Hogwarts- Rewritten to include Verity and Promise
by witchkappa
Summary: -Rated teen for suggestive content, swearing and blood/violence- My first Fanfiction EVER. This is being co-written, role play style (which is why it's so random), so I can only take half the credit of writing this, however I edited it myself. Again, I only own credit to half of this story and my own character, Promise; all characters created by J. K. Rowling I DO NOT OWN. Sadly.
1. Chapter 1

~An-Again, I only own half the story and my own character, Promise. Also, I really really really super encourage POSITIVE criticism. I want to know how me and my partner can make it better! :) ~

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Verity sat in her compartment on the Hogwarts Express. She had just finished securing her wheelchair to the wall so it wouldn't roll around when the train started to move. Her sister, Promise, was in the loo. Verity waited anxiously for her to return. She worried how the other students would react to her...condition. Promise was one of the only people she knew. She prayed they wouldn't be in separate houses. She was snapped out of her train of thought as the door of the compartment slowly opened.

"Hey, I'm back," said Promise. She sat down in a seat near Verity's wheelchair and stretched. "Oh my dear godric I hate train rides. They have always made me sick." Verity smiled. She had been worried that Promise had just left her and that she'd have to ride the train alone. "Hey you ok? You don't look too good. If it makes you feel any better, I wasn't the only person lining up for the pot; there was some pale kid looking for a guy named 'Trevor' ..." Verity giggled. She knew who 'Trevor' was! She'd heard some kids in the hall discussing it.

"Uhm, Promise," Verity giggled, "Trevor isn't a person. He's a lost toad!"

"... Huh. Well, that would explain why he was splashing around in there shouting for him! It was a real riot; which isn't quite a good thing considering I lost my lunch during the incident." Promise gagged slightly and shifted in her seat before starting up a new subject. "What sort of classes do you suppose they'll teach us?"

"Magical classes?' Verity sarcastically replied.

Promise simply smirked at the remark, but quickly grimaced at the thought she wouldn't be the only person she would be sharp with anymore. At that thought, there was a loud rap on the compartment door.

"Oh crap!" Verity whispered, "Promise, quick! Toss me that blanket! I don't want anyone to see my wheelchair yet!"

"Shit," Promise cursed under her breath and quickly covered her sisters body with the cloth before she hurriedly answered the door, revealing a blonde boy standing in the corridor, leaning on the doorframe.

"Hi!" Verity greeted awkwardly, "Who are you?"

"Only one of the most popular kids at school," scoffed the unnamed blonde. She already knew who he was. This was Draco Malfoy, the son the git who was mortal enemies with their father. She was trying to be polite, but so far, it wasn't easy. "You're Malfoy, right? Promise looked back at Verity, then eyed Malfoy wearily. She's heard that name before while she was puking in the pot; and it wasn't something nice.

"What do you want?" Promise bluntly asked.

"I want that seat.. right there," and pointed to the one Promise was sitting in not two minutes ago. "And what makes you think I would let you?" Promise barked.

"Promise, be nice!" Verity said calmly. She turned to Draco in feigned apology, "Sorry, but that seat is taken already. You are welcome to sit there if you want..." She pointed at another empty seat in the room.

Promise glowered at Malfoy, but let him take her seat. Sitting on opposite sides of the room with Verity between them on the side, Promise watched him wearily before asking a rather unexpected question...

Verity sat calmly. She prayed Malfoy wouldn't notice the wheels peeking out of the bottom of the blanket.

"Are you gay?"

Verity gasped and her eyes went wide! That was not a question to ask someone you just met! "PROMISE! YOU CAN'T JUST SAY THINGS LIKE THAT OUT OF THE BLUE!"

Promise held his gaze strong when he replied,

"What?!" after snapping out of his shock. Verity quickly turned to face Draco, "I'm sorry. we share so much with each other, She sometimes forgets that other people have social boundaries and..." She stopped talking, suddenly curious herself about this boy's sexual orientation. She dared not say anything, but she did wonder.

"... You bints cant possibly be serious!"

"Well, its kinda ambiguous considering the 'fab' style and girlish looks.. You cant blame us, can you?" Promise retorted.

"OK, neither of you are being very polite right now!" Verity snapped, "Listen, it's a long way to Hogwarts. Can you guys please at least TRY to be civil? If not, the door is that way!" Promise still held his gaze, even after Verity's snap. Malfoy kept shifting under her cold eyes before running out into the corridor.

"... Well, that answers that question,"


	2. Chapter 2

~An- again, just for the record, I only own half the story, the fact I edited it, and my own character, Promise. :3 just so ya know, um... There's like, WAAAAY more that I need to edit and post; we've started this about a month ago and this is only a small part of it! Like a reaaaaally small part of it! So, if you're looking for a long story, you found it! Lol, comments and criticism encouraged!~

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"Nicely done Promise! You just pissed off one of the most powerful and popular kids at school!" Verity sighs. "Well, at least we won't have to listen to his arrogant banter the whole way!"

"I wouldn't say pissed off so much as intimidated," Promise replied, "besides, if we did piss him off we could just say that he really was gay." Promise couldn't tell her the real reason she acted that way. She saw Malfoy peering down curiously at the hem of the blanket, and if she didn't do something one bump on the train could have revealed Verity's... Condition.

Verity and Promise were twins, and very good at reading each other. She suddenly knew what Promise had done. She smiled hugely, "Have ever mentioned how AWESOME a sister you are to have?" Promise broke into a grin and hugged her sister. "Do you want anything from the trolley, Verity?"

"Anything chocolate, enough said!" She loved chocolate! She always had. Promise nodded and faded her smile before transitioning into the corridor, sliding the door shut behind her. She approached the kind smiling lady with the large roller trolley and asked for two double trouble chocolate gumkins.

Meanwhile in the compartment with Verity...

Verity slowly removed her blanket. She worried how others would react to her 'condition'. She was always stared at, everywhere, and she hated it! Promise tried to protect her, but not even she could block out all the pain. All the judgements. all the stares and weird faces she got. Her eyes began to water. What if people didn't accept her at Hogwarts? She tried to hold back the tears. She didn't want Promise to come back and see that she had been crying.

Promise was walking back to the compartment when she saw someone about to open Verity's room; a dark-haired boy with a scar on his forehead... Where has she seen that before? Whatever, I need to stop that guy!

The door opened; Verity knew it wasn't Promise. She tried to grab the blanket, but it was too far out of her reach.

Just before the door was completely open, Promise stopped him, closing the door.

"HEY! Ummm.. you can't go in there."

"Why not?"

"Becaaaause I had just made a really messy accident in there and smells really bad!" Verity heard Promise, and lied to back her up.

"Ya, sorry, I'm not decent at the moment!" The two lies clashed badly.

"... Accident, huh?"

They were so screwed now!

"Yeah... um.. sorry, I'll just clean up in there for a moment!" Promise quickly went into the compartment and haphazardly covered the wheelchair. Verity threw some candy wrappers form her purse on the floor to make it look like there had been a mess. "If we agree that if he seems trustworthy, we show him, ok? We don't need anyone else pissed at us!" Promise nodded and opened the door, inviting him in; she was attempting to humor the odd look she was given.

The boy walked and sat down in the seat across from Promise, not even trying to take hers. A good sign!

She extended her hand out to him, making an attempt to introduce herself.

" Umm... Hi.. I-I'm Promise." He didn't seem half bad, unlike that questionably queer kid. Promise was still trying to figure out where she had recognized that face... He took her hand and shook it.

"Nice to meet you," He said genuinely, "I'm Harry; Harry Potter!" He braced himself for her reaction. Promise gasped when she remembered that name! She remembered all the times when their parents would tell Promise and Verity about his story before they... They...

Verity's jaw dropped. Everyone stayed silent until she spoke.

"Well, we have something in common, Harry!" Promise started to tear up before she stopped herself from showing emotion, hoarsely whispering to her sister,

"Verity, stop..!" "Voldemort killed your parents. A death-eater ours!" It was too late for Promise to stop her. Verity had already blurted their history and His name. Promise had to leave the compartment, quickly, before she can allow herself to shed a tear.

Harry stared at Verity.

"Are you serious?" At that moment he saw Promise about to run and grabbed her, knowing what she was feeling He hugged her. "It's ok," He said softly, "I understand!" Verity smiled through her own tears. Now THIS was someone they could trust!

Promise let out one, two sobs before she broke from Harry's embrace. She uttered a thanks and sunk back down to her seat before quickly wiping the tears away. Harry sat in his seat.

"How... How old were you?" Verity sighed,

"It was a few years after Voldy went down. Some of his more...loyal followers were still making trouble..." Promise stayed silent as she could only faintly remember the horrifying scene...she had only been 5 at the time. Promise searched his expression and only found kindness and sympathy; something usually rare in this day and age. Promise spoke up and asked how old he was when it had happened to him.

"Two, I think. I.. I don't really remember much..." Harry said softly. Promise felt a pang of guilt for asking that... She looked at Verity, trying to decipher her thoughts but it just seemed so... Blank...

Verity's mind was, in all actuality, racing. Should she tell him? Would he judge her? Would he still be her friend? Was he her friend? What would Promise think if she showed him? Did Promise trust him? Could she trust him? Promise laid her hand over Verity's and instantly understood what was going on in her mind. She passed her a look saying its her call before poking her head out the corridor to check if anybody would come in. Seeing the coast was clear, she locked the door.


	3. Chapter 3

~An-second verse, same as the first! I only half credit for half the story, since, y'know, Im co-writing this with a friend. I also own promise so those two things are the only thing I own, nothing else~

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"Harry, there is something else..." Verity said slowly. Promise sat next to Harry, watching him carefully; trying to read his next thought as she crept her hand into his.

"Wh-what do you mean?" Harry hesitantly inquired.

Verity gulped, Promise was the only person at Hogwarts that knew. She was about to take a big risk in telling him her secret.

There was no turning back now, Promise thought. She gripped his hand, interlacing the fingers disabling him to run.. she hoped he wouldn't try... It's Verity's call to tell him, but it was also Promise's job to protect her from any more pain. "Our...our parents weren't the only ones who got attacked that night!" she started, "The death-eater attacked us too! I... I was just trying to protect Promise!" Verity began to cry. " Then he came at me and... And..." She couldn't seem to find the words to explain.

Promise winced and held back tears as she and Harry silently urged her to go on. Promise tried to keep her eyes off Harry but couldn't help trying to decipher his expression. Harry let go of Promise's hand and went to Verity's side. He sat down next to her, putting a comforting hand on her shoulder. Promise could only watch as she curled up in the seat, haunted by that ghost of the past.

Verity couldn't explain exactly what had happened that night. She decided to just show him. She slowly started to remove the blanket that covered her.

Promise slowly allowed to let her emotions run as she started to slip tears down her face, one squeaking sob at a time.

Harry gasped as he saw her chair. He hugged her tighter. He heard Promise sobbing and grabbed her wrist, pulling her into the group hug. He may have been acting mushy, but he didn't care. Promise hugged the two tight. Harry, because he has been acting so empathic/sympathetic, and Verity because she felt so sorry for what had happened and grateful for her sacrifice. And with that, Promise smiled. It started small, but got bigger at the thought of having a great friend her and Verity could trust.

There was suddenly a knock at the door. The door began to rattle just before Promise finally unlocked it and poked her head out to see a small ginger-haired boy smiling sheepishly at her.

"Oi, do you mind If I join? All the other are full up!" Promise nervously glanced back at the two and shot Verity a look saying, 'If you wanna put that blanket on, you better do it now!' Promise turned her head back and smiled slightly at the boy, confused as to what to do.

"I was in with Harry Potter, but he left to go to the loo. Then some Slythrin git come and kicked me out!"

"Ron?" Harry said, getting up.

"Oi, Harry, that you?" Ron was curiously trying to see past Promise before she shoved Harry into Ron's view; hurriedly tucking the blanket back on Verity before fully opening the door to Ron with a big cheesy grin. Harry turned to them and slightly grimaced. "It's ok guys! Ron's a good guy! He's a friend of mine! You can trust him, I SWEAR!"

Promise and verity shot each other a look; debating whether or not to. Promise started to back down a bit, but kept an eye on Ron, struggling to believe Harry's words as she sized this Ron boy up and down. However, they didn't need to debate.

"Um," Ron said awkwardly, "if you're tryin' to hide the fact that she's in a chair, don't. I can see the wheels!" Promise looked over at the chair. She gave a weird look and shook her head at Ron and his obliviousness. "Now, can I sit with you or not?' Ron said impatiently. Verity giggled. His lack of self control was kind of cute.

"Yes," Verity answered, "yes you may!" If Harry trusted him, she would too! "Um..." Ron said as he sat down, "So, would I be making you uncomfortable If I asked why you're in a wheelchair?" Promise jerked forward, sure that he was stepping out of line asking that.

"Never mind!" Ron said quickly, "Sorry, too personal! What I mean is, is it like, a temporary injury, or are you stuck in there?' Ron face-palmed, realizing how wrongly he had worded that sentence! Everyone lay silent as Promise sends him a glare; stopping him in his tracks.

"... Sorry! Dear Godric! It's like me tongue and me brain aren't connecting!" Promise tears her gaze from Ron to Harry to see how he's reacting. Harry is face-palming... She found that amusing and gave a chuckle.

"Oh, we haven't introduced each other to you, haven't we, Verity?"

"No, Promise, we have not! Though, since you just said my name, and I just said yours, I think we just did!" Verity giggled fondly at her and her twin's banter. "Well, I guess so, but I still prefer a handshake. My name's Promise," she extends her hand out to Ron, who kind of awkwardly takes her hand weakly just barely moves it. Verity was grinning at Ron's discomfort.

Ron fears of Promise breaking his nose. He hopes he didn't offend them; or else he could be in deep trouble.

"Nice...nice to meet you!' He gulps. His fear of her sister makes Verity giggle. Promise giggles along with Verity and breaks into laughter at the thought. Ron looks frightened and disturbed, when Promise says,

"Don't worry. I'm not going to break anything of yours unless you tease or lay a finger on my sister... With WHATEVER intent in mind. " Ron looked confused, "Why the bloody hell would I hurt...Verity, right?" He asked, to which Verity nodded. "I wouldn't hurt her. Malfoy might, But I wouldn't ever!" "Ha-ha. I meant with ANY intent... Wink-wink, nudge-nudge, you two! " With that, Promise went up to get something from the trolley.

Both Ron and Verity looked deeply disturbed. Verity shook her head. Promise had such a sick mind sometimes!

Meanwhile in the corridor, Promise was actually running to the loo as not to puke. When she did her business, she got three caramel pumpkin spicer squares and when she went back to the compartment, and stashed them into her bag. She sat next to Verity and groaned in sickness. Verity saw Promise's face and went pale. Oh shit! Her sister was going to hurl!

"Oh no!" Verity whirled into a panic, quickly unlatching herself from the wall. Puke began to erupt in her mouth as she frantically looked around the room for a bin of some sort.


	4. Chapter 4

~an-again, only own half the votary, my editing, and Promise. This one is alittle longerrrrrrr, but you'll have to deal~

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Verity rolled out of the compartment, followed by Ron and Harry. Ron ran off to find another girl they knew that he thought might be able to help. Harmony... Heron.. Harman. Honami? Whatever! He'd gone to get her! Harry pushed Verity down the hall as they search for a baggie or something for Promise! But as they were all out searching for some puke containment particle, Promise herself high-tailed it down the hallway to the bathroom. However, before she could even get seven paces down the hall, she bumped into queer-o and dumped the load she was carrying right onto his cloak. "MY FATHER WILL HEAR ABOUT THIS!" He screamed, running down the hall. As she just watched him run she just kinda passed out in the corridor.

"PROMISE!" Verity screamed as she saw her sister go down. Draco looked up suddenly and saw Verity's chair. He went bug eyed.

He had seen her, but right now Verity didn't care. She rolled straight to her sister's side with Harry running behind her. Meanwhile, Promise was off in dreamland dreaming about... Harry? It was about how her and Verity were being attacked by a dementor, and Harry had jumped into the attack instead... Promise was calling Harry's name, hoping for his life to be saved... It was more of a nightmare than a dream, if anything. Meanwhile in the real world Promise was out cold on the floor. Verity pulled her sister onto her lap.

"Promise? Prom, can you hear me?" Promise mumbled something similar to Harry's name then turned over to get more comfortable. Of course, though, Ron is no where in the dream whatsoever, to her amusement.

Harry blushed as he recognized his name. "Wow, she must be REALLY train sick!" Promise began to become restless as she began to sniffle in her lap. She awoke with a gasp and yawned for a moment, and before anyone could realize her distress, began to run to the bathroom. Verity didn't miss a beat. She rolled after her twin with Harry, and now Ron and..Hermione...That was her name...with them right behind her.

Harry and Ron waited outside as Hermione and Verity ran into the bathroom with Promise.

"BLEEEEEUUUGHHCHASDFGHJKL." Promise was pretty sure that the whole damn train heard that one. She hung her head in the toilet as she listened to the angry mob outside the bathroom. She really didn't pay attention to the line and just shoved herself in there. Better than having another kid puked on... Promise began thinking to herself, 'I wonder if... perhaps... I sleep-said Harry's name? That would be embarrassing... If I did, he probably must think I'm a weirdo for dreaming about someone I just met...'

Verity held her sister's hair while Hermione dug in her bag for an anti-nausea potion. Verity seemed to read her sisters mind.

"You did say Harry's name. And no, he does not think you are weird. He thinks you are one sick little witch!"

"Verityyyy the man in my tummy is angry..." Promise was not in the best of mind at that moment. "Oh shit! Hermione, I think she's gone delirious!" Promise couldn't tell if Hermione was serious or not, because Promise herself was only joking. "He's pretty mad. I think he wants outyyyeeeeaaaugh! And also, by 'sick' do you mean, like, perverse sick or like puke sick? Cause I think either is pretty accurate.."

"Sick as in he thinks I should call St., Mungo's!" Promise laughed to herself. "Oh... Well, better than thinking I'm odd, I guess... Is he... Waiting outside?" Promise began to get restless, worried as to if he could hear the two chatting. "Yes, but don't worry, he can't hear us. There are silencing charms on the doors." Verity Giggled slightly as she wondered WHY there were silencing charms on the doors!

Promise knew why there are charms... But she ruins Verity's innocence enough on a daily basis. She lifted her head up from the pot and got up, quite sure she didn't have anything left to lose. A girl with brown bushy hair approached Promise.

"Here," she said softly, "this will make you feel better." She handed Promise a sweet smelling potion. Promise took it with a weak grasp; gulping it down hastily. Promise took a gasp and braced herself for a bitter aftertaste... Which didn't come, much to her surprise. The girl must have great skill to brew a potion of this quality; for most would make a terrible aftertaste. Promise said thanks and introduced herself; she complied most haughtily, if Promise would say so herself. Promise stepped out of the lavatory and looked sheepishly at Harry and Ron; apologetic for the trouble.

Harry put his arm around Promise as soon as she stepped out.

"Are you ok, Promise? You scared us for a minute there!"

"Y-yeah. I'm fine, thanks..." Promise blushed and looked down, letting her bangs cover her blushing cheeks. She knew he meant the gesture as only friendly and nothing more, and was saddened by the fact, but was happy anyway for the gesture. Thats when she noticed Verity and said, astonished, "Verity, your wheelchair! I'll go get a blanket..."

"Promise, don't bother!" Verity said shaking her head. "Everybody will see me soon enough. Plus, I have HARRY POTTER as a friend! Nobody is going want to give me a crap!"

At the emphasis of Harry's name, several heads poked out of the compartments into the corridor, much to Harry's discomfort. "... I think we should get back to the compartment..." Promise didn't want any more trouble than necessary. Yet even as she spoke, people started to mutter, whisper and stare. Most of it was due to Harry, until they heard someone say, "Why would they let HER in? She can't even walk!" Water was beginning to well in Verity's eyes. It was already starting! Promise whipped her head around to glare at the person who said that to give the person a glare for making her sister cry just as his or her door already closed. "Come on, lets get you to the room..." Promise said quietly, pushing Verity's chair along. The nerve of some people! Making fun of someone in a wheelchair, a child, no less! Some nerve these kids have...

Suddenly behind them they heard the same door slam open and the all too familiar crunch of someone's nose breaking, followed by a howling cry. Ron turned and his eyes got wide; followed by a grin that stretched over his face. Promise ran over to see who hit the fool who had made fun of her sister, for her intention was to thank the hero of the day...

Or HEROES! Standing there were two identical red heads, who the girls suspected were Ron's older brothers, glaring down at a Slythryn boy with a bloody nose.

"Screw off, you git!" one of them yelled, "You don't know why she's in there!" Promise was mystified by what she saw in the space before her; and when the Slythryn scum scurried into the hall the boys whirled around to see a small group of five; peering up at the two with thankful eyes.

One of the boys went and ruffled Ron's hair, confirming the guess that they were brothers. The other kneeled down in front of Verity's chair. He swept her hair out of her eyes. "Don't bother worrying about that guy," He said softly, "Jeb's been an ass since the day he was sorted! Thinks he's better than everyone else. Really, he's just a git who can't even hold his wand straight!"

"... Makes you wonder which wand you're talkin' 'bout when you put it that way..." Promise looked down at Verity, resting a hand on Verity's shoulder. The twin on the floor looked up at Promise. "You know, you're pretty sick-minded for a first year!" Verity grinned. He had NO IDEA! "Trust me. You don't know the HALF of it!" Promise grinned mischievously before looking off in the distance, goofy grin askew. "We have room for just two more people in our room if you're interested," Promise suggested.

"It would be our pleasure!" They said, simultaneously.

Promise giggled and looked between the two, glad that her and Verity is not the only pair of twins on the ride, but they probably didn't know that.

Five minutes later, they all sat in their compartment, talking and joking around. The twins had introduced themselves and Fred and George. They hadn't been surprised that the girls were twins. They must have looked more alike than they thought! Promise asked how they knew when they replied that they knew by the way she had came to her rescue. Fred smiled. "It's a twin thing! Plus, It's kind of common sense! You're sisters, you're both 11, it just made sense!"

Promise smirked, "Well, there's no arguing that. Just out of curiosity, how old are you two? What year are you in?"

"Third years" they said at the same time. They did that so often, you'd think they shared a brain! Promise smiled warmly. "I really can't thank you enough for beating that guy. He looked so scared I think he shat his panties!"

The twins smiled. "Our pleasure," Fred was probably one of the most genuine people that the girls have met on the train ride. Ron turned to his brothers, slightly frowning,

"Hey wait! Isn't Jeb a year above you guys?"

"Two years" George corrected. Promise's smile faded as she quickly ran through possible consequences for hitting an upperclassman. Fred seemed to read her mind. He took her hand comfortingly. "Don't worry! Oliver wouldn't let that nut get within three feet of us!"

"Oliver?" Promise inquired slightly. Looks like she has quite a few people to learn about!

"Quiditch captain. He plays keeper. He's one of our best mates!"

"Oh..." 'I must sound so STUPID right now! But I really don't know what else to talk about,' Promise thought to herself. She looked to Verity to see if she could find what she's thinking. Verity stared out the window. As Promise looked closer, she saw tears in Verity's eyes. What if there were others like Jeb? She didn't think she could take the harassment, the looks, the snickering behind her back...

Promise took Verity onto her shoulder and held her, sympathy in her eyes.

More tears arose as her real fear came to surface.

"Promise, what if we get split up? You go to one house, I go to another. I don't think I could survive Hogwarts without you!"

"Verity, the possibility of that is very small, us being twins an' all. And we'll always have classes together, not to mention time after school," Promise reassured her. Promise wasn't that sure about such matters either, come to think of it.

"Ya," Fred said trying to comfort her, "the only way you're screwed is if you get separated into separate houses and one of you is a Slythryn; just talking to you, I don't think that's very likely!"

"And even if we ARE going to be sorted into different houses, there's still a chance that you'll be sorted with Harry, Ron, or Hermione," Promise smiled at the three of them-specially Ron, saying that she trusts all of them with her sister... So far, anyway.

"But what if YOU'RE with them, and I'm alone?"

"You won't be alone. As I've said before, I won't just up and leave you cause I'm in another house. What kind of twin does that?" Verity thought about it. Then she smiled. It was true. Promise wasn't the ditching kind. Verity knew her sis would walk on hot coals for her, and she'd do the same... If she could walk! Promise smiled back at her, and then at everybody in the room... Especially Harry, who she was sure would save or take care of her twin in a heartbeat; not to mention Ron, who she was sure of which he liked Verity, even if a little bit.


	5. Chapter 5

~an- don't own anything but half the story, my editing and Promise. Wheee~

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Harry looked back at Promise and grinned. Ron, however, seemed to be staring at Hermione, who was deep in a book. Fred tapped Promise's shoulder. "We should all get in our robes. We're probably close to the school by now!"

"'Kay. We'll be right back then," Promise took the robes from the cubby under the seat and carted her sister to the loo to change in private. It was only when they arrived to the bathroom that Promise asked, ".. So, who do you like? Your identical knights in armor or the oblivious blundering wonder?" Promise giggled profusely. Verity blushed; she sometimes wished her sister COULDN'T read her mind so well! "...*Gasp* or maybe you like all of them? Ooh Verity I didn't know you was such a playa.."

Verity laughed and pushed her sister into the lavatory, "Just get into your robes before I hex you! Promise had tears forming in her eyes from laughter as she fumbled with her tie, furiously attempting to get it right. "So what, you're not gonna ask me who I like?" Verity smirked. "I don't need to! I already know!"

"Really? Cause I think you only have HALF an idea!" Promise won't ever admit to her sister who else she likes, she'd be dead and buried before she would.

"I know you like Harry. You said his name in your sleep!"

"You don't know what that dream was even about, missy-miss, so HA!" Promise cheekily stuck her tongue out at her sister but inwardly wished she didn't mention it. "Fine!" Verity said, throwing her hands in the air, "You win! Now, can you please help me get dressed?" Promise giggled and helped her shimmy into her skirt and work the cloak comfortably under her. Just as they were done, they train suddenly shook to a stop and they heard a sharp whistle. "Shit, we gotta go... We'll finish doing your tie later,"

"Right!" Verity said. The girls hurried through the hallway.

They managed to join up with Harry and Ron briefly before they had to split up to get into boats. Promise sat opposite to Verity as she was steadily trying to do her tie; tucking it into her shirt. When she was done, she looked over the side and saw what looked like... A mermaid? Hagrid signaled something to the mermaid, who nodded and disappeared under the surface. "Phew!" Hagrid grunted,"That was a close one!" Promise just gave a mortified look and from then on kept looking straight on ahead at Hogwarts.

They later found out that, occasionally, mermaids would knock the first years out of their boats for fun. Close one was right! Since Verity's legs didn't work, she had never learned to swim; Promise wouldn't have been able to stay above water holding onto her sister's heavy wheelchair. Hagrid may have, whether he knew it or not, just saved their lives Speaking of heavy wheelchairs, they really should make stair-compatible wheelchairs, cause its a pain in the ass to haul that thing up flights of stairs! It took both Promise and Ron to drag it up to the top, there an elderly-looking lady was waiting. "Many apologies," The woman said worriedly, "Filch was supposed to build ramps for you, but there was... a little accident!"

"Accident...?" Both Promise and Ron huffed and gasped. What kind of 'accident' puts off a ramp for a handicapped student?

Hagrid finally joined them at the top. "Don't ask unless you want to have nightmares for the rest of your life!" Promise and Verity looked at each other, estranged, and stayed silent from then on. Hagrid and the woman, ushered the first years inside. Hagrid lifted Verity and her chair and carried her up a long flight of stairs. Dear lord this man was strong!

Promise couldn't be more grateful to Hagrid as she half carried, half dragged herself up the stairs, but postured herself when she noticed Harry climbing next to her. She couldn't help but steal glances at him as they walked up and up. It was the sound of his voice that startled her and almost sent her tumbling down the stairs. "W-what?" Promise had to ask what it was he had said, as she was startled at what he had asked.

"Have you been pushing your sister up and down the stairs all this time, by yourself?" Promise was taken aback by this question. She knew her sister will be listening to this one. "Well, yes, but it hasn't ever been a bother," Promise replied, "it's something I can do to repay her for her sacrifice. I'm probably gonna be doing that for the rest of my life, but I'm fine with it." Promise tried her best to give her most reassuring smile to him.

"That's the other thing..." Harry continued. He swallowed hard. "Promise, It's ok if you don't remember; if you do, please tell me! What... What was she trying to protect you from that night? What would have happened if she hadn't distracted it?"

"... We think it was a dementor... At least, thats what we like to think... I remember it was a sinister, malevolent force, though. Much, much more than a dementor.." Promise's look turned dark and clouded. "I don't know what might have happened. I don't really like to think about it, but my best guess... Would... Would probably be..." Promise began to tear up. She hadn't really thought about it much, but she was sure that what would have happened would not leave either of the two alive. That much she was sure of. "... Come on, we're gonna be left behind," Promise tried to brace through the tears as she looked back at Harry.

Verity had heard every word. Her eyes watered slightly, but she hid her tears. Promise didn't remember, but she did! She always had! There had been a dementor, but after Promise had fainted, her father had made it go away. What she had saved her sister from was almost worse!

Promise dragged harry up the stairs by the wrist, laughing as they struggled to keep up with the others. Harry's expression was bewildered, if not amazed at the two being able to stay happy after such a dark time in their lives. Promise, however, had not a clue just HOW dark.


	6. Chapter 6

~An-blah blah blah, don't own any credit for anything except for half the story my editing and Promise enjoy~

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Verity dried her eyes as Hagrid set her down. She did her best to smile and rolled towards her sister.

Promise made some space for Verity to sit in her wheelchair to sit with the group, however, just as Verity was about to reach them, her chair stopped and lurched backwards, causing her to fall out of it. A group of Slythryns in the hall laughed hysterically. "GO INSIDE NOW!" One of the professors yelled at them. "100 points from Slythryn!" The group of boys all ran into the great hall smiling.

Promise was taken aback in shock, but not enough to snap out of it and go to help her sister up. That kid is gonna have hell to pay for later. Verity lay on the floor sobbing; out of all the crap that people had pulled on her, that was one of the worst!

A boy in a black and yellow robes, a Hufflepuff, came over to them, rolling Verity's chair back to her. "Stupid Prats!" He mutters, "Are you ok, honey?" Verity nods, still in tears. "I'm Cedric," The boy said softly, "Cedric Diggory, and obviously I'm in Hufflepuff!" He gestured to his robes. Verity giggled. No kidding! The boy lifted her up and placed her back in her chair. "There we go," He whispered, "now our little princess is back in her throne where she belongs!" He ruffled her hair as she smiled and pushed her up to the table again. He grinned at them all while he walked back to his table.

Promise couldn't help but smile and give her sister a look, staring at her with bemused, smiling eyes. She was still intending to pay those Slythryn thugs back for what they did, but she couldn't help but be amused with her sister, whom of which seems to have boys lining up to kiss the wheels of her chair! Promise was giving her THAT look again! Verity shot a glare at her sister, conveying that if she made any sort of inappropriate remark, Promise would get run over! Promise raised up her hands slightly, as if to say that she wasn't even going to. But every now and then, she would shoot an occasional glance with that same teasing look. Verity rolled her eyes at her sister. Promise could be such a pain in the neck sometimes! She shook her head smiling as the headmaster finally finished his speech. She looked up and went slightly pale. She had caught sight of the caretaker Filch; she now understood why Hagrid had told them NOT to ask about the accident! He, to put it bluntly, looked like dragon shit! Even after all the stories Fred and George had told them about him, Verity felt sorry for him.

Promise followed Verity's eyes, and her smile quickly turned into a mix of, 'Oh wow that looks bad,' and 'OH SWEET BABY JESUS MY EYES!'

Verity saw that even the twins at the Gryffidor table were looking at him with pity.

Just after Dumbledore's speech, Professor Mcgonigal asked for everyone's attention and explained the process of sorting. Promise watched as Ron, Hermione, and then Harry all go into Gryffidor. Promise hoped that Verity and her would be put into Gryffidor so that they could be with their friends... When she heard her name.

Promise let an expression of fear and nervousness flit across her features briefly, before taking a confident stride towards the stool. Verity squeezed her sister's hand. "Good Luck!"

Promise smiled at Verity as she sat on the stool, and jumped slightly when she heard the hat groan. "Ueeegh ANOTHER Lovegood...where should I put you? Perhaps with Hufflepuff, a whole lot of loyalty..." Promise shut her eyes tight and thought Gryffindorry thoughts. "Hmmm but there IS a whole lot of brash, overconfident COURAGE." the hat spat the word with disgust, before finally speaking out in a grand voice..

"GRYFFINDOR!"

Verity clapped as Promise breathed happily. Spreading a great big grin, she heard her sister's name being called; Promise skipped over to her twin and pushed her over to the stool. Verity's heart raced as Hagrid lifted her up onto the stool. She watched as Promise left to go sit with her house. Promise eagerly watched Verity as sat between Harry and George, trying to almost hypnotize the hat to say Gryffindor.

The hat sat itself onto Verity's head. It seemed to be about to say something witty, when it stopped. "It's ok, girly. I won't hurt you," It whispered, "you'll be alright, I swear. Just don't go tellin' people I was all mushy there. I got a reputation to uphold, you know!"

Verity quietly nodded. "Good! Now, where to put you? You're DEFINITELY not a Slythryn!" The hat said. Verity sighed in relief. That meant that no matter what, she and Promise could at least still be friends! "Not a Ravenclaw either. Hufflepuff or Gryffindor? I can tell that your sister wants you in Gryffindor with her, and I can feel courage inside you. In fact, that's how you got hurt in the first place!" Verity winced. She hoped that only she had heard that. Her life story wasn't supposed to be on display here!

Promise's proud smile turned into that of a glare as she felt her only family's privacy being threatened. "Blimey! Looks like she's gonna be a hat-stall!" Promise heard another student whisper. She broke contact with the hat's wrinkled eyes, making the hat breathe a puff of relief, and glared at the person. Guess which house- Slythryn. "Looks like I wont ever get bored this year," Promise said to herself. George and Harry heard it, though, and the corners of their mouths twitched upwards in amusement.

Meanwhile, the hat talked on. "However, You are hardworking and loyal, which is Hufflepuff. Your sister is the same way, except her Gryffindor qualities outshine her Hufflepuff ones. With you, I think it's the other way around. So I guess it's gonna have to be..."

Promise's breath caught in her throat as her head snapped forward; she heard the ringing silence that occurs before he announces houses. The hall was dead silent, as it had been during Harry's sorting. Everyone wondered where Verity would be. Though NOT in those exact words; some were thinking, 'Who's gonna get to have that sweet girl?' Others, mostly Slythryns, were thinking, 'Who's gonna get stuck with the little cripple!' The hat opened its mouth to speak...


	7. Chapter 7

~An-I feel so redundant right now. xD anyway, I only own Half credit for the story, Promise, and my kinda poor editing skills. XD healthy criticism encouraged~

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Promise could tell by their expressions who was thinking what when she looked about her, making mental notes of who to...'take care of', when Promise's head snapped to the hat, the voice boomed through the hall. "HUFFLEPUFF!"

The room stayed silent for a second.

Promise's shoulders dropped and sadness overwhelmed her body when a tear slid down her cheek. As she looked up, however, she saw something that made her jaw drop. Cedric, the boy who had returned Verity's chair, was leading a large group of older Hufflepuffs up to the front of the room. Promise sniffed and wiped her tears as she tried to believe what she was seeing. As she watched, Cedric and four other Hufflepuffs lifted Verity up and carried her proudly back to their table as if she were some amazing prize they had just won, or a princess that they loved and worshiped. The rest of the Hufflepuffs lifted and carried Verity's heavy chair back to their table.

And it was, at that very moment, when Promise was sure, absolutely dead certain, that verity was going to be ok. She owed that Cedric kid a shit-ton.

Verity seemed to be frozen, not believing what was going on around her. She had been separated from Promise, but had been put in a house that accepted her. She had just been carried to her seat like a... a... A PRINCESS! She smiled as she remembered what Cedric had said when he returned her chair. "... now our little princess is back in her throne where she belongs!" She was now being carried like one. She weeped tears of joy as they put her down again. Even if Promise wasn't with her, she had found her home!

Promise looked at her from across the tables and winked at her twin. She found her home. She was almost glad that she didn't get into Gryffindor; she needed a family that would treat her well, no matter what. And its not just Hufflepuff she has family with, there's also a few Gryffindors as well; all of that was more than enough to make Promise feel glad for her twin sister.

After the rest of the sorting, dinner was finally served. Verity was astonished by the amount of food. Promise scarfed down as much as her small gullet could be stuffed with. It was after one steak, and a mashed potato that desert was served when George said "I guess I'll have to eat this fudge cake all by myself..."

"There is ALWAYS. Room. For cake... Dumb-arse..." After desert, older years guided the young first year houses to their dorms, Promise was not at all sad that Verity was in a different house... She grinned at the goofy sight of the Hufflepuffs carrying her down the moving stairs. Promise was climbing between Harry and Ron; she wasn't paying attention to Ron as much as Harry, however. When they got to the end, they were met by a huge painting that asked who goes, Wood replied to her that she knew very well who he is, but said the password anyway. The sight before them was a beautiful lush lounge-room with two staircases on either side of the fireplace.

Verity fell asleep in Cedric's arms on the way to the common-room. He woke her up just long enough to learn how to get into the Common room, then let her drift back to her quiet slumber in his arms. He sat by the fire and held her. He was happy she had been put with them, but he felt sorry for her. She and her twin were separated from each other now. As Cedric thought about this, he swore to himself that he would do everything he could to help this poor little girl... Who he suddenly realized he didn't remember the name of! He racked his brain, trying to recall what the Professor had called her...

Valerie? No, Victory? V... Vvvv...Vvvvvvvvvv..VERITY! That was it! Verity Lovegood!

Cedric had made a cute scrunched up face as he was thinking, and smiled at verity, who was cuddled up so close to him. Cedric looked up at the clock. DEAR GODRIC! Was it really that late?! He should get Verity and himself up to bed. Seemingly sensing his thought, the bunch of girls came and picked her up off his lap. "We'll take care of her from here, Cedric. You should get some sleep!"

Meanwhile, in the Gryffindor common-room, Promise was sitting in front of the fire by herself. Promise was already beginning to wonder what her sister was up to... Sleeping, probably. Promise smiled warmly but couldn't ignore the hint of loneliness writhing in her heart... Verity was loved by nearly everyone who laid eyes on her, she was pretty and smart and kind... When I'm the complete opposite. I'm rude, brash, and tomboyish. And Promise felt guilty, but she envied her sister. She has a whole house and more of friends who love her, when I only have a select few, she thought to herself.

Promise didn't know it, but her sister felt the same envy she did towards her. Promise didn't always see the glares and stares Verity got, she didn't hear all of the insults; neither does Promise herself have to suffer through that torture. Verity most of all envied her sisters working legs. She had once love to run, jump rope, play hopscotch, and dance. She had loved going flying on the back of her father's broom. Now she couldn't do any of those things. She felt ashamed, not of her wheelchair it's self, but of the fact that people always had to take care of her.

Promise had remembered when back in grade-school when she had begun to tie her hair up because of all the fights she would get into for her sister. They were required to have class together, since they were so inseparable. But sometimes they didn't always have class together, and even if for just one minute, Promise would have her back turned and someone was either taunting Verity, or playing with her chair. Promise knew that she probably wouldn't ever know how bad it was for her twin... back then, they just looked so identical... Promise just felt like one of the only things that she could do to help her sister was to defend her...

Promise became so entranced in staring into the fire remembering her old school that she didn't hear someone coming down rickety stairs. A hand on her shoulder snapped Promise out of her train of thought; she had jumped slightly and turned around to see someone she didn't expect. "Do you mind if I join you?" Harry smiled down at her. Promise tried to return the smile, but it was weak. Harry sat down next to her, silence settling in. "Were you not able to sleep?" Promise asked.

"I tried," He said, "but then Neville told me you were still down here. Thought I'd check you were ok!"

Promise looked at Harry, gratitude in her eyes. Someone actually cared about how she was doing, not just shrugging it off saying she can take care of herself. Promise smiled a bit, but it trailed off into sadness.

"Must be hard for you," Harry said softly, "being away from her. Fred and George said they'd go bunkers if they weren't together. Then again, they already are pretty much bunkers!" Promise gave a laugh at that and gave a genuine smile before she said, ".. If it isn't much of a bother, um... Is it ok... If I tell you what's actually bothering me? Or are you tired for that rubbish,"

"I'm never tired of hearing you talk!" Harry said before he realized how cheesy that sounded. Promise gave a grin and a giggle at his cheesiness before pulling her knees up to her chin on the sofa, cuddling up closer to him. ".. I'm afraid that she'll forget about me."

"What!" Harry scoffed, "Unlikely! You remember that scene she pulled on the train? She was terrified of being away from you!"

".. I know.. And I know how ridiculous it sounds as well. It's... It's just that she has a whole new family that she can be with who treat her for what she's really worth. Im just afraid that... Through all that craziness.. She'll forget about or like totally lose interest in me.."

Harry was about to answer, when suddenly the portal swung open. Professor Mcgonigal and Madame Pomphree ran into the room. Promise grabs Harry's hand out of reflex and ask whats going on.

"Ms. Lovegood," Mcgonigal said calmly, "Would you know what I meant If I said that your sister had 'the nightmare and the accident'?" Promise didn't have a clue. "... Please tell me you mean that she had that dream about the fire imps and where she wet the bed..."

"Hardly!" Pomphree cried, "She was screaming in her sleep and in cold sweats. She injured three classmates before someone was able to wake her. Some people said that she was..."


	8. Chapter 8

~an- UGGERS it's such a pain to cut and paste all this! I'm trying to make it so that there's a cliffhanger at each chapter. I just hope I'm accomplishing that xD. Sooooo Idon'townanythingbuthalthecredito fthestoryandmycharacterPromi sethreetwooneread!~

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"Promise," Mcgonigal said, "Mr. Diggory has informed us that from where he was in the BOY'S dormitory, he could hear Verity screaming your name. We believe, Ms. Lovegood, that your sister was having a night terror about the night your parents were murdered."

"Which," Pomphree interrupted, "If I'm correct, was also the night of her injury." Promise's look turned dark and unreadable. Verity hasn't had one of THOSE dreams for such a long time that Promise had nearly forgotten about them. "Is she awake at the moment?"

"Yes," Mcgonigal nodded, "That's why we came to get you. Her and Mr. Diggory are in the headmaster's office, for your sister refuses to return to sleep without seeing you first!"

"Take me to her." That was all she needed to say to start the journey to the headmasters office. Harry came along, which Promise was thankful for. Harry held her hand as they hurried down the long trailing hallways.

Five minutes later, they were at the door of Dumbledore's office. If Promise listened, she could hear Verity inside sobbing, with Cedric, Dumbledore, and Professor Sprout attempting to comfort her. As they enter, Promise saw her sister. She sat in her chair by the fireplace, paler than a werewolf after a full moon! Verity was shivering, not because she was cold, but because she was afraid. Tears streamed down her face.

Promise let go of Harry's hand and ran to her sister, loose locks a-fly. She held her sister and allowed her to sob on to her her shoulder. "Promise, they got you!" Verity sobbed, "In the dream, I didn't draw them away. I tried, but it was like I didn't exist! He just went straight at you, and.. and... dear godric! Him.. your body... your blood... your screams..." Verity began to hyperventilate in a panic attack as the images of the dream came flooding to her.

Promise tried her best to calm her down, something that she's not very good at doing. curiosity was tearing at her insides who this 'him' was, but it was neither the time nor place. Promise could only hold her and say that she was there.. She has never been more scared, confused or helpless in her entire life. Slowly, Verity begins to calm down. She cries into Promise's shoulder. She couldn't remember the last time they were separated. She didn't want to think of what would happen if she had this dream again, or one that was worse!

"... Ms. Mcgonagall? Is there any possible way, just this once, to let her slide through the system and let her sleep with me in the Gryffindor girls' room?" Promise didn't want to let her be alone tonight. "We were just discussing that, actually." The Professor said, "We believe that, until better arrangements can be made, you two may do a sort of... Slumber party plan. Each night, you will both stay in the same dorm, whether that be Gryffindor or Hufflepuff will depend on the night and your preference. This will be only temporary till we can find a more permanent solution, but you both must swear to keep the other's password a secret. We can't have Hufflepuffs and Gryffindors wondering in on each other willy-nilly!"

"I swear it!" Verity said.

"I swear as well, Ms. Mcgonagall! On my honor!" Promise was containing her excitement under that mask of seriousness by just a hair. She was so excited that she got to sleep with her sister!... Oh... Ew.. but whatever! What matters is that they're together. She looked to Harry, who was semi-awkwardly standing by Cedric. "Now.. anyone got a sickle to flip?" Promise eagerly asked. Ten minutes later, the three of them stood/sat at the entrance to Gryffindor tower. Promise tiredly pushed into Harry's shoulder and said, "I'm tired. You say the password." she gave a playful smirk.

Harry said the password, and Verity did her best to remember it. The Portrait swung open to reveal most of their Gryffindor friends waiting for them. Wow! Gossip goes around FAST here! Fred, George, and their older brother Percy helped lift Verity through the doorway. Promise couldn't thank them enough. Promise carried Verity upstairs while the boys carried her wheelchair and bags up. Promise momentarily went downstairs to hug them thanks and goodnight. Harry especially. It was so good of him to come with in a family emergency.

When Promise returned, she found two Gryffindor seventh years helping Verity into bed. One of them caught sight of Promise and smiled; she did her best mock-strict expression as she walked over to Promise. She pointed at Promise's empty bed. "You go to sleep right now, young lady! It's past midnight!" The girl then cracked up as she and her friend led Promise to her bed, tucking her in. The seventh year kissed her forehead, "Sleep tight, sweetheart!"

Promise cuddled in with her sister, yawning tiredly. The next morning, they both awoke to sunlight streaming through the window. Many girls rushed about the room, getting ready for the day. Verity yawned and stretched out her arms dramatically, almost hitting her sister in the nose. Promise groaned and shoved her sisters arm out of her face before making an attempt to get herself ready. Verity grabbed her chair, which sat beside the bed, and slowly slid herself into it. Promise knew that there were certain things that Verity took offense to being helped with, and was perfectly able to do on her own. She pitied the first person who made the mistake of crossing that line. She rolled to her trunk and started to dig through it. She finally found what she needed and rolled after Promise towards the loo.

Promise smiled at her sister. When she was done, she helped her get out of her nightclothes and into her uniform. "Promise..." Verity said awkwardly as her sister slipped her socks onto her feet.

"Hmmm? What is it?" Promise asked, totally oblivious as to what she was doing. "I...I want to apologize for what happened last night, " She said staring at the floor. "I know I probably really embarrassed you! I was acting wimpier than a baby mouse in an owlry!"

Promise turned serious as she inquired, "Why would I be embarrassed? You had that nightmare again, that nightmare you haven't had for such a long time. It makes you so terrified. Verity, I wouldn't ever be embarrassed to comfort you. Please, don't apologize." Verity hung her head. She still felt ashamed. Promise didn't know everything she had done last night during and after her nightmare. If she heard the whole story, she may not be so understanding. "abrakagerlznahs..." Promise heard her sister mutter. Verity blushed violently.

"What was that, Verity?" Promise asked in a warm tone, looking up from tying Verity's shoes. "I... Well.." Her sister stuttered, "The first person to try to wake me up was this fifth year girl. She was shaking me and talking to me. She got really, REALLY close to me and I... I..." Promise finished tying Verity's shoes and lifted her chin to look Promise in the eye. "You can tell me anything, I won't be mad." Promise smiled slightly. Verity laughed awkwardly. "I swung out at her, and I MAY have broken her nose!"

Promise gave a surprised look and laughed lightly, looking at her sister. "You didn't mean to. We'll visit her at the hospital later,"

"Ok." Verity nodded. " Let's just hope that word of this doesn't spread too fast, otherwise people will start calling me LUNATIC LOVEGOOD!" She said, laughing at her own joke. Hermione suddenly peeked in the doorway, "You two better hurry, or you'll miss breakfast!"

Promise took Verity's chair and carted her like a madman to the stairs where she asked for help to cart her down. They rode like the wind down the hallways. They finally stopped where Harry, Ron, Fred n' George and, surprisingly, Cedric were seated at a table, eating breakfast. Verity looked at Cedric questioningly. Why was he with the Gryffindors? He seemed to read her mind, "We only have to eat with our own houses at dinner," he explained, "breakfast and lunch are pretty much free rain. Most people stick to their own house, but others like to move about!"

Promise found that quite interesting... If that's true, then Promise could spend more time with Verity than she thought! This gave Promise a huge grin as she sat Verity next to Cedric and she next to Harry.

They had barely just settled in when Verity suddenly grabbed hold of the table. Her chair shot backwards out from under her. The force of this caused her to face plant into a bowl of oatmeal. Apparently, some people thought that last night's little prank was so amusing, it deserved to happen again! As Verity lifted her face from the bowl, she didn't look hurt or sad. She looked PISSED OFF!


	9. Chapter 9

~an-blah blah only own half story credit, promise and editing. I'm trying to fix how short the chapters are, I SWEAR! It's just... So... HARD. D: so many potential cliffhangers, you guys. :c anywog, comment, criticize, enjoy!~

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Promise saw that it was the same kid who pulled it last night. She's had enough of this kid's bull-shit! Promise and Verity were sync at this point. "Do you want to, or should I?" Promise inquired. Promise and Verity's looks were dark and sinister while everyone was either in a mix of shock or had wet their breaches.

"Can we do it together?" Verity asked. She smiled and had the same gleam in her eye that Fred and George got when they were about to pull a wicked awesome prank.

"Of course... Dear sister o' mine.." Promise had a sick grin slathered across her features as she came up with a great piece of revenge. The Weasley twins looked at each other and grinned. Whatever this was, it was gonna be good! Promise propped Verity into her chair before kneeling down, whispering her plan. When she got back up, Promise winked at the Weasley twins, who seemed to be intrigued about what was starting to happen. "Take notes, boys!" Verity said with a wink.

Promise took the orange creme pie and covered it with her cloak on Verity's lap. Promise and Verity went over to the revolting Slythryns. Promise tapped lightly on the one of the two boys' shoulder, and waited for him to turn around. The girls both knew they'd get docked points for this, but it was so worth it!

Promise smiled bitter-sweet for a moment at the boy, before lifting him up by the collar and throwing him face-first towards Verity's lap; this was Verity's moment to shine. She swiftly removed the cloak just in time to let the boy splat into the tangy treat. As Promise was distracting the second boy, whose back was turned to Verity, switched the two's wands. Promise tried to act scared when he pulled for his brand new wand, totally unaccustomed to this person handling it.

Verity then pushed the boy off his lap and got quickly out of the way; for the boy's experriamus backfired and was hurdled back twenty feet before sliding to a stop. Promise and Verity gingerly went over to the boy when Promise said, "You're supposed to have a dick, not be one."

The boys sat stunned for a minute. They looked between the two girls. One of them looked angry, the other like he had just wet his pants. "You'll pay for that, you filthy little mud-blood!" the angry one snarled and got up in Promise's face. This was a VERY bad move on his part.

Promise broke into furious fits of giggles and laughter before grabbing his collar, punching him in the face and kneeing him in the balls, watching gleefully as he fell to the ground, clutching his newly-acquired womanhood. "I don't know if anybody told you this..." Promise gets in real close, "... but we're half-bloods." Promise gets up and kicks his jaw before just looking at the other guy, watching him shit his thong and run like a little girl.

The girls both smirked and walked back to the table, viewing the many students in the hall that looked at them in shock. Some smiled in gratitude and congratulations, others grimaced at the amount of trouble they were going to get in, while most were simple frozen in a stage of extreme 'WTF!' Verity suddenly stopped smiling. "Promise," she said, sounding scared, "I think we took that too far! You... WE could get EXPELLED for that!"

Promise was still on her victory high, but that doesn't mean she didn't have a plan. "That's why we're going to confess before those boys get to tell!" Promise smiled hugely at her sister. Promise knew it sounded crazy, but the consequences would be lessened. If they were lucky, they would only get three full days detention with kitchen duty. Besides, Promise thought to herself, her sister would get off much easier than me; I kicked, punched and kneed a kid in the BALLS. Verity should be ok compared to what I'll need to take..

Verity smiled. Her sister was a criminal genius! It sometimes scared her how good she was at this crap!

"Good idea," Verity smiled, "plus, we can always claim self defense! They DID pull my wheelchair out from under me!"

"Hmm its a weak crutch but yes we could say that... Only as a simple detail though, we need to act really guilty... You up for that?"

"Promise, you know me better than that! I'd confess to murder if it kept you at school!"

"Great! Now, we just need one more thing..."

"What?" Verity asked. She was starting to wonder how much work they were gonna have to do to make this go their way.

Promise looked around the table at the curious faces, as they were intrigued by her evil genius. "We need..." She looked all around the table, as if scoping out a contestant, "a witness. What better way to get out of a situation than during the confession, a witness comes bursting through the door saying that he's seen it all? That way we could use that self defense crutch when he states it started with them pulling out her chair." Fred and George looked at each other. This FIRST YEAR knew more than they did!

Promise proudly smirked with pride as the Weasley twins were mystified. "... So.." She said, full of suspense, "Who's it gonna be?"

"ME!" Cried nearly every single one of there Gryffindor friends, along with Cedric and even a few Hufflepuffs.

"Can't be Fred or George, " Verity said, thinking, "They aren't that reliable for a witness since they're trouble makers themselves..."

"Verity, why don't you pick? This is all for you, after all. I just make the plans." Verity nodded and continued to think. "Harry would be good, because most people like and trust him, but bad, since, from what I've heard, Snape has it out for him for some reason..."

"... Well, I guess that would only leave Hermione, Cedric and Ron.." Promise looked at the three. "Hermione would be our best bet, but I don't know how she would feel about our little... conspiracy."

"No way!" Hermione said, "I do NOT want to get involved in this!" Promise lifted her hands up in mock surrender. "Ok, me and Verity'll go pack our bags.. You know how it is, pull a nasty prank like THAT and it's an instant out..." Promise hated using guilt trips, she really did, but it was necessary to get her to do the job.

"I'll do it!" Cedric said getting up.

"... Are you sure?" Promise and Verity simultaneously said.

"Hufflepuffs are loyal to their friends!" Cedric said, hand on his heart, trying to look dignified. He lost it within twenty-nine seconds. "Plus," He said once he had finished laughing, "if you hadn't of screwed that kid over, I WOULD HAVE!" Both sisters had serious looks on their faces as they nearly peered into his soul. ".. You'd be sacrificing some of your reputation with the teachers," Promise stated. Cedric shrugged. "Don't care! That's what friends do, right?" Promise's look softened and she smiled at him. "You have the job!" Promise declared. "Now lets go! We may miss class but we need to in order to make it believable."

Verity nodded and they both rushed out of the hall. They came to the head masters office twenty minutes later. It had taken five minutes to get there, fifteen minutes to get Verity up the stairs. They now stood at the door. Promise laid her hand over Verity's. "Ready?"

"I never will be, but I have to pretend I am!"

"I think the whole damn world would agree on that thought, honey. Here we go..!" Promise pushed her way through the huge doors and found the kind old headmaster, Dumbledore, at his desk.

As they approached him, Verity did something Promise had not asked her to, but something that would help them extremely: She made THE FACE! The face that, as children, Promise was sure would have allowed them to get away with murder. She was to this day certain that this face had some undiscovered magical properties. Promise tried to think about the accident, her friends dying, even sad puppies to make herself cry as she and Verity approached the headmaster. She didn't like it, but she had to do it as she began to think of horrid things.

Dumbledore looked up at them. Verity was about to launch into it when she saw something that made her blood run cold. In the corner of the room, where they had been previously hidden, stood the heads of Slythryn, Gryffindor, and Hufflepuff. The boy must have beat them there. They were officially, royally screwed! Promise froze dead cold in her tracks. She wasn't faking to cry anymore. Her body started to freeze as her mind raced, thinking about having to say goodbye to her friends forever.


	10. Chapter 10

~an- only own promise half credit for story and editing. Blah. Blah-blah. Rabbleshnabble.~

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Then, the great gods above decided to give punishment and mercy at the same time. The Slythryn boy, seemingly over come with an unquenchable urge, whipped out his wand and cast a curse at Promise. Verity saw it coming and quickly got in the spells path. She screamed as her chair flipped over and she hit the ground with a solid thunk!

"VERITY!" that one blast was all it took to break her out of her thinking. Promise rushed over to Verity; she held her as she assesses damages. By the time she saw the blast, it was too late. She let her sister cover for her again.

As if on cue, Cedric burst through the door to play his part. He froze as he took in the scene. He then said swear words the likes of which Promise had never known and rushed to the professors. "You see!" He yelled, "THAT is why they did it!" He told them everything that had happened, in such a way that Promise and Verity were certainly angels and the boys looked like the spawns of demons! By the time he had finished, Professor SNAPE was kneeling next to the girls, turning his back on his own student, his own HOUSE, for a brief moment; to make sure Verity wasn't seriously hurt from what the boy had done.

Promise was sobbing uncontrollably, overcome with guilt and hurt, but she was also sobbing because she was thankful for the turn of events that were happening in their favor. She handed Verity over to Snape and backed off so he could look at her injuries. She could have kissed everyone in that room at that moment, but she was still in such an emotional wreck. Promise looked at the slythrin boy with a look that asked why he would do such a thing, although she fully knew well. The prank was her idea, and she won't ever forgive herself because of this outcome. Yet, at the same time, Promise couldn't word the amazing amount of gratitude that she felt for Cedric; she felt like she owed him her life right at that moment.

Ten minutes later, it was all over. The boys had gotten off far worse because their "little stunt" had the potential to KILL Verity if she had landed wrong. Verity had a third degree sprain on her wrist, but she felt it was a fair price for the mercy they were shown, plus the fact that her sister was ok. Seventy-five points had been taken from Gryffindor and fifty points from Hufflepuff. The Slythryns had gotten one hundred points taken away from them... EACH. The girls both had three days detention, but it was with Mcgonigal and Sprout, who secretly felt proud of what the girls had done. The boys on the other hand, had TWO WEEKS detention with FILCH! The laws of karma were definitely on the girl's side!

Promise made sure to remember to make some kind of gesture of thanks to Cedric for explaining what had happened. Promise was almost looking FORWARD to detention. After it was over they left to go find harry and the others to tell them what had happened, but it seems once again they were beat to the punch by Cedric.

Their friends stampeded towards them. the group split, half going to Promise, half going to Verity. there was a complicated chatter of questions and conversations. All at once, Hermione shrieked when she had caught sight of Verity's arm. Cedric had left before he had found out how badly she was hurt, so he hadn't told them she was yet. "Dear Merlin!" Hermione gasped, "Verity, what happened?!"

Promise couldn't stand all the chattering. She was in a confused mess as she tried to answer all the questions, juggle the multiple conversations when she replied to Hermione in cluttered and irritated frustration, "Y'know, for being a know-it-all you'd think you'd know! Mr. Slythryn douchebag knocked the wind out of her and her wheels and THAT was the end result!" Everyone stared at promise's outburst; she didn't feel ANY regret. It wasn't that hard to figure it out, and Hermione sure as hell shouldn't have just thrown it out like that.

"Thank you, Promise." Hermione said, blushing. she really did feel stupid now. "how... how bad is it?" Promise's look of irritation turned to one of blank sadness and regret as she faced away from her friends and sister, waiting for her sister to answer that herself.

"Oh, it's nothing really," Verity said calmly, "Just... Just a sprain!" That was the truth and the lie all at once. It was NOT nothing, it WAS a sprain, but it was a THIRD degree; which was pretty much as bad as you can get without breaking something. Still, she felt it was worth it to protect Promise from the bastard.

Promise glanced from under the cover of her bangs at her sister, understanding the amount of pain she was in and made her friends give Verity some space. Unfortunately, Harry picked up on the pain in her voice. he had gotten his fair share of injuries from the Dursley's so he knew that 'just a sprain' could mean something far worse!

"What degree?" he asked bluntly.

Promise couldn't let this continue, just letting Harry know was fine, asking in a large crowd of questionable people was inappropriate. Promise quickly asked to cover for her sister, "I'm sorry, but i think it's best if she gets some rest. We're sleeping in the Hufflepuff common room, would you like to walk us halfway there 'till you reach the Gryffindor room, Harry?" Harry took the hint. He gestured to Cedric. They HAD to tell him, too! Verity nodded, and the four of them set off down the corridor. As they walk away, Harry shot Promise an apologetic 'Sorry, I realize now that was uncalled for,' look, hoping she wouldn't kill him for his moment of stupidity.

Promise smiled warmly- kindly, almost- at Harry's gesture. "It's fine. It was the heat of the moment; everyone was pretty worked up." Promise found a spot where they could all sit down and talk because this was going to take more time to explain what happened than a short trip to the house rooms. Cedric piped up, "I told them everything that happened from the time I walked in to the time I left after Snape carried Verity to the hospital wing. All you guys need to do is fill in the spaces from before I got there and after I left. Still, I'm guessing that's a lot of stuff!" Promise felt a brief pang of guilty jealousy wash over her heart as he recalled when Snape carried Verity across the whole bloody school. She had a small schoolgirl crush on Snape, but she shrugged the envy off. "Well, when we first got there, we were going to start when we saw Dumbledore with the heads of Gryffindor, Hufflepuff and Slythrin next to him. Then that Slytheryn bastard sent a spell after me; Verity got in front of the blast and got shocked out cold..." Promise began.

"I was not out cold! At least.. not at first..." Verity tried to argue. The less of a wimp she sounded like, the better. she blushed violently, attempting to hold on to as much of her shattered dignity as she could. Taking a curse for your sister: good! Passing out on the floor of the headmaster's office: bad! Promise smirked at her sister's attempt at defending her case. Promise looked at Harry for a moment before continuing. ".. Anyway, after Snape CARRIED HER to the hospital, the nurse deemed it a third degree. It should take about four weeks to heal,"

Harry went bug-eyed.

"THIRD?!" He gasped. He had gotten a third degree only once before, and he knew it hurt. Cedric's reaction was much different. He looked as if he was about to scream and strangle somebody.

"PLEASE," Cedric said through gritted teeth, "PLEASE tell me that son of a banshee got punished SEVERELY!?"

"We don't know. They usually keep punishments confidential to other students." Promise answered quite bluntly. She kept looking between Harry and Cedric's expressions, taking in the thoughts that they are clearly expressing. Harry she felt sympathy, for the reason that he as well as gone through Verity's current level of pain and Cedric she felt understanding because her rage, also, is bubbling thickly under her icy-hot surface. Verity looked at the floor, "They won't stop, you know?" she sad softly, "They've gotten their revenge on me now, but... but not YOU!" Verity looked at her sister in fear. "They'll hurt you, Promise! They'll hurt you some how. I know they will! I can't let HIM hurt you!" Verity was so caught up in emotion, she didn't realize until a few seconds to late that she had said him Instead of THEM.

She ignored her concern as she noticed her twin's mistake. Promise's look turned blank as her bangs cloaked the upper part of her face as she suddenly became immersed in her shoes.

"By the way..." Promise sounded so emotionless as she remembered the dream Verity had had recently, "who is.. Him..?" Verity went pale. This was a conversation she hoped she'd never have. She tried to think of a way to explain it that wouldn't give her sister the same nightmares she had. Verity went pale. This was a conversation she hoped she'd never have. She decided to just clear the biggest, broadest part of it and tell her sister the details later. "He, " Verity gulped, "Is the one who PUT me in this chair in the first place!"

Promise looked up and understood her sister's intention with the statement. She asked Cedric to take Verity to the Hufflepuff common room; Promise needed to go to Gryffindors' room to get some things, so Harry went with her, splitting the four up.

Cedric and Verity rolled down the hallway. Five minutes later they sat at the entrance to the common room. Verity was about to tap out the code, when she felt something. A sort of tingling down her spine. She spun around and zoomed back down the hall. Call it 'Twin-stincts', but she KNEW something was wrong. Promise was in some sort of trouble, and she might need her help! Promise was on her way to the common room with Harry; she was completely oblivious to was about to happen. Promise made an attempt to hold Harry's hand but when she did he lifted it up to fix his hair.. Funny how we get distracted by the smaller things than one of the hugest things that could change your life, isn't it? Promise moved into the entrance and said the password, but stumbled back in a shocked halt into Harry at the sight that lay before her.


	11. Chapter 11

~an- only own editing, half credit for the story and the character promise. I'm feeling kind of proud of myself, this one is a waaay longer.~

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Cedric had caught on to her panic. He levitated her chair up the stair to Gryffindor tower. They reached the Portrait and saw them standing there. As she rolled towards her sister, she could tell by her face she had been right: something was terribly wrong here! Hermione lay on the couch of the common room, unconscious. A large bruise on her forehead showed that her sleep wasn't a natural one. Her head rested on Ron's lap as many other Gryffindors, including the rest of the Weasley clan, either ran around the room in panic or kneeled next to her in worry. The four of them stood in the doorway, staring in horror at the scene. They hadn't been gone that long! What had happened to her? Before anyone could warn them, they got their answer. Cedric suddenly gasped and pushed Promise out of the way, stepping in her place.. A few seconds later, there was a bright burst of light a few feet away. Cedric cried out in pain and fell to the ground. He groaned, holding his abdomen. "Get.. inside.. NOW!" He said through gritted teeth, yelling the last word. Even as he spoke, the gang of Slythryns began to attack!

Harry quickly wheeled Verity inside the common-room, as Promise was stuck in confusion. She didn't want to leave Cedric behind! She made up her mind and began to push the heavy portal behind her; she didn't want the struggle to cause more damage than necessary.

Verity saw the door shutting close and knew in an instant what she was doing. She screamed and tried to get to her sister. Harry held her back, knowing Promise would kill him if he didn't Promise smiled a kind, warm, yet at the same time sad smile at the two. ".. I'll be fine..." she whispered to them before shutting the door completely.

Cedric tried to rise off the ground. He felt as if his chest were on fire, and it was painfully difficult to breathe. He felt blood on his hands, unsure of its origin, but knowing it was his own. He fell again to the ground, wincing and groaning in pain. Promise kneeled down to Cedric slowly as she read the thug's almost intimidated faces as they recognized Promise. She watched them carefully before saying to Cedric, "You stay down. You have a third degree hemorrhage, if you stayed down it wouldn't have broken open." Promise's hard, rough voice softened. "... I owe you enough, if this will pay off some small amount of my debt, so be it. I'll die, if need be, to pay you back... I swear on my life's blood."

He looked up and saw Promise still in the corridor. Shit! This was exactly what he'd been afraid of. These guys were seventh years, unafraid of being expelled. They could put her in St. Mungo's... or worse. "No.." he croaked, "Promise... don't!" Promise slowly got up. "Don't you forget my words, Cedric Diggory. A Gryffindor always keeps their word!" Promise grinned proudly at him before charging towards the group. She didn't know many spells yet, but that was more than enough with her brute force if she used it well enough!

Meanwhile, in the common room, Harry had asked about Hermione. Ron had explained what he knew. Hermione had come back to the common room to grab a book she needed for class. A few minutes later, they'd come to get her since she'd forgotten her school bag. he found her outside, being beaten on by a gang of Slythryns looking for Promise. Hermione had obviously refused to tell them where she was, so they decided to... play with her!

Promise very closely dodged the high-level spells that they threw, but she drew her wand and threw one, two spells that knocked two slytherins down to the ground, clutching their bruised sunshine bags. Promise slipped up though and tripped; one of the spells hit her right arm, she was sure it was broken. "Well, I guess I'll have to rely on punchin' with my left hooker... NOT TO MENTION I CAN STILL KICK, BITCHES!" Promise gave a demented laugh and leapt to her feet.

Verity stared anxiously at the door. Cedric was hurt, and that meant that Promise was fighting them all alone. Verity knew her sister. Promise would never let an injured warrior go into battle. She would face the world alone before she'd let someone put themselves in danger like that! They would destroy her. She knew it. The look she saw in their eyes showed it. they wanted to kill Promise, and they didn't seem as if they cared about punishment at all. They had looked at Promise like a hungry lion looks at a lamb. They wanted revenge, and Verity was scared to think of what they might do to get it!

Promise pushed out any thoughts of failure that would worm their way into her mind, such thoughts were bad luck. But they also must be thoughts that Verity is thinking.. Don't you worry, sis, I'll be fine. She laughed at her talking to herself. By now she's used to it; call it a habit she's picked up from having no one other than Verity, due to her bully reputation. She kicked the third guy in the jaw as he dropped to the floor, but only for a moment. Promise didn't notice this and turned her back on him as she punched the fourth guy in the gut and bit his neck, creating a large enough hole to leave a laceration too small to kill him, but leave him bleeding unconscious. But it was a near fatal move to turn her back on guy number three, as when she turned around too late to prepare herself for his blow.

Cedric watched in horror as the fight went on. He saw her go down and knew had had to act. Promise would kill him for this later if he wasn't already dead. He gasped in pain as he got to his feet, and started to make his way towards the fight.

Promise took a nasty blow to the gut. Well, at least she knew which bastard made such a low blow at Cedric. That's when she saw Cedric himself get up off the floor, leaning up against the wall; she herself bit her lip to draw blood, keeping herself conscious as she struggled to get up before getting kicked back down.

As Cedric walked, he suddenly heard a creaking sound behind him. Someone was coming out of the common room. He didn't know whether to be happy for the back up, or frightened at the thought of someone else getting hurt.

Promise's vision was starting to blacken, but she was fighting hard as she heard the threatening creak of the portal. This was HER fight, HER time to serve Cedric for what he did! Promise got back up to show that she was okay, and spat the blood that flooded to her mouth. Not to mention she was curious as to who was coming through and she wanted to look all tough and macho. As the Weasley clan rushed out of the room, Harry and Verity sat together in the common room. Verity's twin-stincts had told her that Promise needed help. She wanted to help, but Harry had managed to convince her that the way she could help the most was by staying in the common room with him and Hermione, helping to make sure she was still ok. She prayed that they had not waited too long to go into the fight, that it was not to late to save her sister and Cedric.

"I DON'T NEED YOUR HELP!" Promise screamed across the room as she staggered toward her last two opponents. She really didn't want their help; however much she needed it. She started a slow run before swinging, missing, and falling to the floor and getting stomped on. She could have swore she felt her spine snap as she let out a strangled, bloodcurdling scream of agonized pain. She felt sorry for herself. She hated having everybody saving her all the time, she was so fucking sick of it. She cried out of frustration as she saw everyone rushing forward to save her.

As the portal closed again, Verity heard it. She heard the scream of pain come from Promise's mouth. She couldn't take it any more! She slapped Harry's hand off her chair and rolled to the door. She used a levitation spell Flitwick had taught them to lift herself through the doorway. When she saw the scene in the corridor she froze. How could it have gotten this bad so fast?! Cedric turned and saw her. He panicked. "VERITY NO!" he yelled, wincing in pain. Verity rolled to her sister's side as the Weasleys held off the git gang. She completely ignored Cedric, not yet realizing just how badly he was hurt. Her only concern was getting to her sister. She put her hand on Promise's shoulder. She made sure no one could hear her then whispered, "Ok, Promise, how badly did they get you? You can be honest, no one's listening!"

Promise sighed in relief at her sister's discreet nature, but groaned as she assessed her damages. "... A few minor cuts and bruises due to physical dual-type spells, a large internal wound and bruise from where he punched me in the gut, a broken arm and spine.. Worst is probably a possible head injury from collapsing to the floor..." Promise gave her the whole diagnosis, no sugared words or frilly make-better phrases; or at least, she didn't use either of those before adding, "... It's nothing.. I'll probably get better soon.. I need to go help them beat those pieces of shit..!"

"DON'T YOU FUCKING DARE GET UP!" Verity yelled. Everyone in ear shot was shocked for a minute. Had innocent little Hufflepuff wheelchaired Verity just drop the F-Bomb?! Promise's eyes went wide and she dropped straight back down onto that floor! One thing she didn't do often was get Verity angry; and she has a good enough pile of reasons why. Just then, a hoard of teachers came running down the hall to them, lead by Percy Weasley.

"Oooooh god no! Get me out of here! I HATE HOSPITALS! Harry! Carry me to the common room before they see me!"

The Slythryns went bug-eyed and tried to scatter. Harry and Verity grabbed Promise and carried her to the portrait hole. As Harry carried her inside, Verity turned to look at Cedric. She frowned. Something... something wasn't right here! Why was he so pale? "Cedric? What's.." Verity started to speak, when suddenly, to her horror, Cedric's eyes rolled back in his head and he fell, crashing to the ground. Promise suddenly didn't give two shits about her fear of hospitals and staggered over to him. "Somebody.." Promise whispered as her eyes began to water, "SOMEBODY GET A MOTHERFUCKING DOCTOR IN HERE!" the teachers rushed over as she too began to black out, collapsing on top of Cedric's nearly petrified body.

Verity screamed. This was one of her worst nightmares, only this time it was real! She sobbed and screamed as she rolled to them. She pulled Promise off of Cedric and onto her lap. NO! she thought, No, This couldn't be happening! She looked down at her sister. She was paler than a werewolf after a full moon! "Promise!" She sobbed, shaking her sister slightly, "Prom, can you hear me? Come on Promise, wake up!"

Promise didn't answer, shallow breath rose from her chest, signifying she was alive However, before she could spend two minutes with the unconscious two, the teachers whisked them off with a flick of their wands off to the hospital.

it was two days later when Cedric awoke in the hospital. Verity was asleep in her chair in between his and Promise's bed. Besides going to classes, she hadn't left the hospital wing. Promise appeared to still be out cold. He didn't want to reveal he was awake and have someone wake Verity yet, so he just lay there and watched her slumber. Cedric, however, maybe should have awakened her. Verity's sleep was not a peaceful one, though on the outside it appear to be. She was locked in her own mind, seeing images of things that would make a Gryffindor cringe.

Promise, herself, was dreaming- of course, the complete opposite of Verity's dreams. She was having some of the most pleasant dreams of her friends and sister, where there is no Slythryn, and, surprisingly, Harry was the majority of the dream. She knew she was dreaming, though. She knew she fainted after calling for a doctor. In fact, she was at the point of consciousness where she can hear people talking, she just can't open her eyes.

Harry entered the room and saw Verity and Promise asleep. They were true twins! He glanced over and saw Cedric awake. The two of them exchanged grins at the sight of the two girls sound asleep. Harry came over and sat down on Cedric's bed. Promise could hear his footsteps as he walked, yet she didn't know who he was until he whispered to Cedric. "Promise is really pretty when she's sleeping, " Harry said awkwardly, "Kind of like a bad-ass sleeping beauty... Don't tell her said that! It would make things awkward."

"My lips are bloody, stained, and sealed!" Cedric whispered.

Promise felt a wave of pure happiness wash over her as she did an inward squeal at what Harry had whispered. Outside of her mind, in the physical world, the corners of Promise's lips gave a turn upward as a pink blush fluttered across her cheeks. If she could leap up and kiss him, she would have. If she wasn't in a slight coma. But then she heard something else that made her ears twitch. ".. The twins are very pretty.. I think I like Verity the most out of the two. She's so cute and charming in her own special way.. almost as if she's like the new princess of Hogwarts," Cedric's eyes looked clearly enchanted by Verity's beauty. "... You can't tell Promise that, either. If you do, Harry, I'm afraid I might end up as bad as the boys she fought last night!"

Harry looked at cedric, "Do you.. Do you like Verity?"

"What?! NO!" Cedric snapped. Then he laughed, "Ew, Harry don't be weird! I think of them both like little sisters." Cedric suddenly stopped laughing. "Last night, Promise.. she... said she OWED me! I don't want her to owe me, because she doesn't! If anything, I owe THEM. Either way, I'd do anything, ANYTHING, to keep them safe. I swore that to myself the first night, even before Verity had her nightmare!"

At that moment Promise had gained the ability to open her eyes as the overhead lights smeared her vision. Promise looked bleary-eyed to her right, first at her sister's sleeping form and then at Harry and cedric. "..."

Promise stared at the two, trying to think of something that would break the silence. "... What day is it?" Harry jumped. Cedric would have as well if his blankets hadn't been pretty much strapping him to the bed! "Promise!" Harry exclaimed, running to her side, "You're awake!" he was grinning stupidly ear to ear, thanking Merlin she was ok!

Promise stared her now wide, steely blue-green eyes at Harry, so ecstatic that he was so worried for her. Promise broke into a weak smile and lurched forward to sit up, but was sent back in all different types of pain. Promise winced loudly and cringed on contact with the bed. Harry held her hand. "Don't try to move too much, Promise! You and Cedric really took a beating out there!" Promise squeezed his hand lightly at his concern. "By the way.. How is Cedric? Is he ok?" Promise's voice was thick and raspy as she struggled to create noise from her throat. "He's awake. He's just as beat up as you are, though if you had to say who got it worse, it would depend on what you were talking about.." Harry rambled, "If you're talking about quantity of injuries, you win by a land slide! If you're talking about the severity of one injury over all, well.."

"Well it depends on your point of view, I also got a broken arm and spine. Most of the wounds I received were lacerations and bruises. So I win the pain and severe injury award," she instantly regretted saying that after their reactions. She only meant it as a joke... Even though it was true. "You broke your spine?" Cedric said. He was bug-eyed. He was afraid that.. well, it sounded insensitive, but he was honestly afraid that meant Promise would end up like Verity, in a wheelchair for the rest of her life. "... I've gotten it broken before. Don't you guys worry, it'll heal.."

Harry and Cedric both let out a sigh of relief, hoping Promise's weird mind-reading thing wouldn't let her see what they had actually been thinking. If she found out, they would likely be murdered the second she got out of the hospital wing! Verity suddenly twitched in her sleep. The boys didn't seem to notice, but the sudden movement caught Promise's eye. Verity's face was screwed up into an expression of sorrow and pain. Something wasn't right here. She twitched again as she tried to wake herself from the horrid dream she was having. "Harry...! Harry I need you to listen to me very closely," Promise's voice hissed and squeaked as she tried to convey her distress, "I need you to go over to Verity, wrap your arms around her waist, hold her and say 'araelyn' until she wakes up," Promise quickly ordered Harry. Harry looked at Verity and saw her face. He understood in an instant why he needed to to something so strange. He didn't question WHY he was doing this or HOW it would help. He went over and did what Promise had told him to. He remembered Verity's last nightmare. No one in Gryffindor tower had slept for to days after because Sophia Foster made the mistake of asking Verity to describe the dream IN DETAIL. The things that went on inside Verity's head were disturbing, to say the least! So, without any qualms or questions, Harry went to Verity. He wrapped his arms around her waist gently. "araelyn..." He whispered softly, "araelyn...". He had no idea what 'araelyn' meant. he'd have to remember to ask later.

Verity's eyes popped open, free from that terrible internal torture. She woke up calm, however, until she saw that it was Harry and not Promise who was holding her, who usually did when this happened. Verity looked at him, confused. "Harry," She said, "How did you know to.." She stopped dead when saw Promise out of the corner of her eye. SHE WAS AWAKE! Promise braced herself for her sister's usual Verity-Promise twin collision, which Verity does whenever Promise wakes up in the hospital. Verity rolls over to Promise, Promise flinches... But Verity's bellyflop never came. "Promise, I'm not stupid!" Verity said, knowing what he sister had been thinking. She took her sister's hand, squeezing it. "You look like dragon shit, and you probably feel like dragon shit. I, for one, do not have any desire to jump onto a pile of dragon shit. If I did, I would hurt you more, and that would make me a a bloody terrible twin and a freaking awful friend!"

Promise blinked and relaxed. Then she looks over at Cedric, who's just looking up at the ceiling... He seemed lonesome to her. "Hey Harry could you do me a favor?" Harry smiled."It's not a favor if I WANT to help, now is it? Sure, what do you need?" Promise smiled and said, "Could you move that night table and push my bed closer to Cedric's? He seems to be all by his lonesome," A minute later, it had been said and done. Cedric smiled as he realized what Promise was doing. She was quite creative for a first year! Promise grinned and looked at Cedric before saying, ".. Even after all of this, I still owe you."

Cedric grimaced in a mixture of physical and emotional pain. Why did she keep saying that?! NO! Promise didn't owe him! Verity didn't either! He wished they'd just realize that. "It's not a favor if I WANT to help you!" He said, quoting Harry's words, "If anything, I owe YOU for saving my sorry arse!" Promise was grinning ear to ear, "It doesn't count as saving you if I myself needed to get saved... Do you remember when we first met, when those bloody nitwits pulled Verity back, and you helped her? My debt started right then and there. Not to mention volunteering to 'vouch' for us when me and sis first kicked their ass." Promise chuckled a moment before continuing. "You can say I don't owe you a thing for the rest of your life, but I'll still be loyal to helping out a good friend - no - a BROTHER. That's what family does." Cedric was crying slightly in happiness. They understood! They felt the same bond he did. He loved them both so much! He grabbed Verity's free hand and squeezed it. This was a perfect moment.

Promise is loyal, sure- but there is no way in bloody HELL that she would tell him the reason she called him a brother was because of him and Harry's conversation prior. Promise took her free hand and slipped it into Harry's empty - and, surprisingly, cold - one. She glanced up at him shyly from underneath her bangs. Harry smiled at her. "Promise, I'm sorry, but... But I have to go soon! I have practice in fifteen minutes!" Cedric and Promise looked at him, confused. Harry did a face-palm with his free hand. OF COURSE! They'd been out for two days! They didn't know yet!


	12. Chapter 12

~an- only own promise half credit for story and editing, nothing else. Also, I'm not sure how well I'm doing with the size of these chapters; I'm still trying to find a comfortable size.~

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Promise was slightly confused, looking at him with questioning eyes as to what he's talking about. Practice? Practice for what? She knew there was something really big and exciting here at Hogwarts, but she couldn't remember what it was! She really hoped she hadn't hit her head too hard so that it wouldn't cause any other problems. Suddenly Cedric's eyes got big, "No! You... you didn't!" He was laughing, "Harry, that's amazing! That's.. that's historical! Not a single first year has EVER gotten on the quiditch team before. EVER!"

"... Q-quiditch?... HARRY..! Harry that's wonderful I'm so happy to hear that!" Promise was in a tornado of happiness and worry at the same time. "You... You can't go! That game is dangerous! You could DIE if someone tries to bewitch the bloudger," Promise's happiness went out the window as soon as she thought of what could happen. "Prom relax!" Harry cooed. He let go of her hand and sat down on the bed, stroking her hair, "I'm safe. I play seeker. The WEASLEY TWINS are the beaters. You honestly think Fred and George are going to let those ball-shaped monsters anywhere near me?!" Promise stayed silent as she stared up at Harry, tilting her head toward his hand. Calmed down tremendously, she grabbed her little rectangular-lens glasses and looked at the clock behind him. "... Harry? When does your practice start?"

"11:30." he said bluntly, "It's 11 now. I have to leave in fifteen minutes so I can change in time." Her eyes opened widely as he said this and replied, "... Make that five minutes.!" Harry looked confused. "What?"

"Tell me, when was the last time you've looked at the clock?" At that, she pointed straight at the clock behind Harry. Harry spun around, SHIT! He had to go NOW, but he didn't want to leave her. Reading this on his mind when he spun back around to her, she said ".. Harry, I'm not going anywhere. I'm still going to be here after practice, and I have plenty of company." She squeezed his hand to reassure him a bit.

He nodded and ran out the door.

Promise was still smiling minutes after he left the hospital. She was so wrapped up in Harry that she didn't even care she was in a hospital, he made it so much better. Not to mention the kin she still had by her side.

Verity looked back and forth from her twin sister to her honorary brother.

"So how much do you guys think I healed within the last two days I was out?"

"Sure as bloody hell not enough to leave," Verity said dryly. "Darn.. So close," Promise gave her twin a smirk before quickly asking, "When's Harry's first game?"

"The sixteenth." Verity and Cedric said in unison.

"What's today? Its not, like, tomorrow or something ridiculous like that, is it?" Promise began to get restless. She didn't want to miss one of Harry's games, not to mention his first game. She owed him that much to at least show up to his game, snapped spine or no! "Promise relax!" Verity soothed, "You were only out for a day or two! Today is the sixth, meaning you've got ten days to get yourself better enough to go see the game!" Promise breathed a puff of relief and relaxed flat on her bed, focusing on the pain, trying to will it away as she closed her eyes for a minute.. "Promise? Do you want me to go find Madame Pomphree?' Verity said concerned. She knew that look on Promise's face. She knew her sister wouldn't be the first to ask for help, that she'd need to suggest there was a problem before Promise would admit there was one. ".. Nah, she's probably busy with someone important. No one'll miss seeing me in class. Besides, it's not that bad so long as I stay very very still.." Promise was fine waiting until her medication time to see Madame Pomphree. On the other hand, if she doesn't get on her feet soon, she won't be able to get to Harry's game. "Actually... I changed my mind! Yeah, go get her, can you do that?" Verity silently nodded and rolled off to go get the nurse.

Promise was left a for a few minutes with Cedric as Verity wheeled off in search of Pomphree. ".. You know, I've always kinda wanted a big brother," Promise started. Cedric smiled, "And I've always wanted.. A sibling! I'm an only child, but I have that weird instinct inside of me that makes me need to care and protect someone. You know what I mean? I would guess it might be sort of like how you and Verity feel about each other." Promise giggled and said, "well... Now you've got two!" Promise understood that craving he was feeling. Promise took his hand with her left one, "It got so bad that I wanted a big brother though that I even made a handshake if verity and I ever got a brother with the family we'd be getting adopted to." Promise tried to recall the hand shake as she did it with her left; as her right arm was broken she could only use her left. "Lets see... Up, down.. Then we do this..." Cedric followed along and tried to pay close attention to the movements. He wanted to commit this to memory. He wanted to BE that big brother they had always wanted. He did, however, wonder who had taken them in. Obviously they hadn't been adopted, because he remembered Verity telling him that they were both getting sick of their uncle constantly saying how much like their now deceased mother and aunt they were!

Promise was so impressed with how Cedric was handling this. Most people would wake from a coma frustrated. Promise was enjoying her bond with cedric so much she noticed neither the huge grin on her own face or verity and pomphree walking in on the two bed resting almost-siblings. Verity smiled. Her two families were bonding into one! She recognized that handshake anywhere. Promise would only show it to him if she really trusted him. She waited for them to finish before clearing her throat to get their attention. Pomphree went over to Promise's side. "Hello, Ms. Lovegood," The nurse said smiling, "So nice to have you awake again! How are you feeling, dear?"

Promise was happy as a clam. "Feeling pretty good compared to how I usually treat my own wounds," Promise replied, rather chipper.

Pomphree appeared disturbed at the thought of an eleven year old treating her own wounds, but didn't say anything. Instead she smiled. "Do you want me to get you anything sweetheart? Some food, some pain potion, a glass of water?" She turned to face Cedric, "Same goes for you, Mr. Diggory! If you need anything, just ask and I'll try to help you the best I can!"

"Actually a glass of water sounds pretty good... No no, make it a pint. It'll last longer," Promise said, paying mind to how her voice sounded each time she spoke. Pomphree nodded and turned to Cedric. "It's ok. I'm fine!" he lied. even as he spoke he could feel his injury, a 'third degree hemorrhage' as Promise had called when she saved him, aching with a stabbing pain that he had no words to describe. He tried to hide his pain, but after Pomphree had left, he could help wincing as a particularly intense wave of pain washed over him. As long as the girls were fine, he would be too! He gritted his teeth and tried to just wait for the pain to pass. "This is your first real injury isn't it?" Promise suddenly asked. She's had what he's got before. She can count on two hands what kind of injuries she hasn't gotten. She's used to the pain by now, but he's obviously not. Once you have a huge injury like that, you almost begin to start inviting pain in, convinced that you've had worse. That's whats actually eating at Promise's skin at the moment, but she hides things well.

"No, actually." He said, still gritting his teeth. "I've had worse. I can't think of any at the moment, but I've had worse." That partially was the truth. It was true Pomphree had an entire medical file of Cedric's injuries, and he knew there was at least one or two folders of crap that he'd done, stashed away somewhere in St. Mungo's. The lie was that he didn't remember any. He just didn't want to tell the girls about them at the moment. "You sure don't act like it. Most people who've had a lot of injuries don't whine as much," Promise jokingly poked his shoulder. But if what Cedric says is true, he's probably one of the only people who *might* have an idea of how much pain Promise herself was in right now.

"I didn't whine, I winced! It's a natural reaction when when your body feels like its ripping apart!"

Promise scoffed. "Look here, mister. I have: a snapped spine. A broken right arm. NUMEROUS lacerations and bruises. Take a good look at what the person you're talking to has before you claim something. I can't even SHIFT MY POSITION SLIGHTLY and not feel like something's bleeding." Promise was proud of her injuries, actually, despite how she is physically feeling. Cedric would have these injuries if it wasn't for her, and she was glad; he could just be a little more grateful, in her opinion.

Cedric smiled and laughed. "Sorry Prom, I didn't mean to upset you. Man, even when we both feel like dragon shit, I'm STILL afraid you'll kick my ass!" Secretly, Cedric's mind was racing. He thought of all the ways he could make those bastards pay for doing this to her. "Nah it's only when you disrespect, offend, threaten or try to make an unauthorized move that I'll beat the living shit out of you; none of which I see you doing/attempting. And even if you could, I only really have one limb to beat you with," Promise jokingly laughed. She looked at Verity, who just seems amused by Promise and Cedric's banter. Both twins were oblivious to Cedric's devious plotting of revenge. Cedric winced as another wave of pain rolled in, "Ok, don't call me a pixie for this, But I'm going to admit it: That really hurt!" He said through gritted teeth, "I am seriously wondering how, with your injuries, you are not screaming in agony right now! You are one tough nut, Promise!"

Promise looked at him with a certain kind of mischief, mischief saying that she's going to do something very wise. She reached over to the pint-sized pitcher of water and poured herself a glass. She took two gulps and swallowed them down. Then she took a third; but this time she just faced him and shot water at his face fountain-style. "HEY!" he sputtered, trying to shield himself. "What the heck are you doing?!" Promise gave him that look before taking a mouthful of water and spitting it out at him again. "Promise, what the hell are you doing?" he sighed at her strange behavior. this seemed immature even for a first year. "I spat out out at you once, and you shrieked out in confusion and panic. I spat out at you twice, and now you're more calm about it because you're used to it. Does that example explain to you now why I'm so calm when pain spat water out at MY face this time?"

Cedric thought to himself. Wow, that was really deep. He couldn't help but wonder how often pain had spat in her face. Promise took another drink of water and faced Cedric, as though she was gonna spit again, but then chuckled to herself and swallowed.

"Who here knows when Harry's practice ends? There was a sudden slam as the door to the hospital wing crashed open and shut. Verity rolled backward to see what was going on. Her face went pale. "Now!" She said, answering Promise's question, "It ends NOW! "


	13. Chapter 13

~an- OMG still so much to post! Thinking about maybe doing some other stories as well, UN-potter related; me and my partner write enough potter every day! So once I find some free time in between, you'll prolly see some one-shots pop up from me here and there. I do like me some one shots. :3 anywash, I only own half the story credit and my character Promise! Enjoy~

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Promise's face was twisted in worry and confusion till she saw who it was who was being wheeled. Oliver Wood was draped, out cold, in the arms of the two of the other quittich players. Blood redder than the Weasley's hair streamed down the side of his face. He was wearing his quittich jersey, though many of the others were not. Obviously whatever had happened had ended practice before it started. "What happened? Is he ok?" Promise asked in a panic. The belying question in that statement was if Harry was ok, because what happened to him might happen to Harry if it's a Gryffindor quittich team hate crime. "Oliver and Jeb had a little dispute over who's turn it was to use the field." Fred Weasley said through gritted teeth. JEB! That was the dumb-ass dick-brain from the Hogwarts express. Verity made a mental note to ask Promise to strangle that son of a banshee! Fred continued. "Jeb started to blame and threaten you guys for losing him three of his most valuable players and, well.. I guess you could say Oliver... Lost it! He said, and I quote, 'if those gits ever lay a finger on those girls again, I will personally...' and then Jeb let loose a bludger from the equipment case and used his beaters bat to send it at Ollie's head!"

Promise covered her mouth in shock. She couldn't believe what she was hearing. This boy, Oliver, hadn't even met either of the twins personally and he felt so protective. But she was amused that she managed to lose Jeb his players, meaning she DID do some damage to the three she took. She swore inwardly on her life's blood to make this Jeb son-of-a-bitch pay for all of the shit he's done once she gets off bed rest. Promise felt terrible for letting all of this happen.. She let herself show emotion and let herself cry in front of everyone. She didn't care. That stupid prank ignited some real flame under their asses, and it was all her idea. All her fault... Promise covered her face in her hand in despair. All of her fear, pain, anger, self-blame and pity, all of it. People she cared about or loved were getting hurt and bullied because of her, and she can't even help it anymore from where she's at.

Harry seemed to sense her thought. He went over to her and held her. "Promise, it's not your fault. Jeb is an ass. He's not even the captain of the team, yet he walks around like he owns the place! You did the right thing sticking up for Verity. We all know that, and if you hadn't done something to those gits, WE WOULD!"

"Ya, " Verity muttered, looking at the floor, "If it's anyone's fault BESIDES theirs, it's probably mine! "

"How could it be your fault? I did most of the work pissing them off," Promise was confused as to why Verity felt guilty. "Ya, but WHY did you have to do that? ME! If I would have just stopped being such a baby and ignored those losers, none of this would have happened! WE wouldn't have pulled that prank, I wouldn't have gotten my chair flipped, HERMIONE wouldn't have gotten mauled, YOU and CEDRIC wouldn't have gotten attacked, and OLIVER wouldn't have... Well look at him! All this is MOSTLY the fault of the Slythryns, but all the rest is me and MY STUPID CHAIR!" Everyone as a whole stayed silent in disbelief. "Verity.. It's because of that chair that both of us are alive. If it wasn't for that chair, I wouldn't even be here." Promise choked out the words. It was hard to say them, but she had to. "All this," she gestured to all the people in the room, "is all for you. You're an honorable person. Thats why we fight for you. Because you're worth it. And whoever doesn't think so... Well, I'll beat them too once I get out of this bed."

Many people stared at them. Most people didn't know the story about Verity's chair, and Verity really didn't want to talk about it right now! Just as Katie Bell looked as if she was going to ask, Oliver, bless his perfect timing, groaned in his sleep, obviously in pain. The subject was dropped, for the moment, while they all huddled around his cot while Pomphree tended him. Katie gulped, "Is... Is Ollie gonna be ok?" Promise sighed as she looked at the ceiling, then at Cedric through the commotion. ".. Well, what can you do?" It was a rhetorical question, pointed at no one in particular. Verity rolled to her sister's side. No one besides Promise and Cedric were paying attention. She whispered to Promise, "Did you really mean all that? All the things you said?"

"Have I ever told a lie besides all the ones to keep us out of trouble?" Verity grinned. She reached down and squeezed her sister's hand. Promise may be a pain in the ass at times, but she was the best sister a girl could ask for! Promise smiled a little, but still kept that usual stoic look she has permanently stuck on her face.

Fifteen minutes later, Oliver lay unconscious in the bed next to Promise. The fifth year looked pale yet peaceful as he slept. Most of the quiditch team had left by now. The only ones who stayed behind were Harry and the Weasley twins. Harry sat on the end of Promise's bed. Promise inwardly wished she could hold Harry's hand again, as she looked at how empty it looked, and pouted. As if sensing her thought, Harry suddenly picked up her hand. He held it in his, gently rubbing his thumb across the knuckles. "You ok, Prom?' he asked softly. "Hm? Oh.. Yeah.. Just thinking about.. Past stuff," Promise winked at him, signifying what she really meant. Cedric looked around, "Hey, I just realized something! Where's hermione? Last I saw her two days ago, I saw her laying bleeding on the common room couch. Is she ok now?"

".. You don't think..." Promise was in disbelief, quickly wrapping her brain around an idea, ".. That she's been trying to take care of her own wounds, maybe..?"

Harry was about to respond, when Promise's question was answered by a moan on the other side of Cedric. The twins pulled back the divider curtain to reveal Hermione laying there. She seem to just be waking up. Promise was relieved. No one should have to tend to their own wounds. "Promise," Verity said, reading her sister mind "YOU tend YOUR own wounds all the time!"

"Not anymore. They get treated by someone who's certified; I don't even have to pay!" Verity laughed. Her sisters sense of logical humor at times amazed her. "Hey, where's Ron? I haven't seen him since that night either, which is weird cause you'd think he'd be here." Fred smirked, "It's almost lunch time. Where do you think he is?!" Promise grinned. Of course thats where Ron was. Obviously, Promise was still in a coma.

Promise took a glance at how close her sister's wheelchair was to Fred. 'Aww,' her sister thought to herself, 'sis is all grown up now.' Verity knew what she was thinking. She shot Promise look meant to mean ' I swear if you say anything, I will put you back in the hospital as soon as you get out!'

'Ooh, testy. So you do like him?' Promise was slightly amazed how their telepathy is increased tenfold here at Hogwarts. Verity realized suddenly that they weren't just reading each other's faces any more. They were LITERALLY reading each other's MINDS! This was weird! Cool, useful, and totally awesome, but WEIRD!

Promise rolled her eyes at her sister. 'You still haven't answered my question~' Verity was still weirded out, but she knew she'd get used to it eventually. She sighed inwardly, 'Yes, ok! Happy now? I have a crush on Fred! Just PLEASE don't tell him!'

'heehee. Fine. I just wanted to know so that if I ever catch you two smooching I don't have to kick his ass.' Verity rolled her eyes. Luckily for the girls, most of the others had gone to check on the still partly sleeping Hermione or to make sure Oliver was still breathing! 'It makes me wonder, though, if Fred and George have the same kind of ability since they're twins too?'

'Well, we can't ask! If they don't, they'll cart us off to the mental ward of St. Mungo's! '

'But if we don't ask we'll never know! Hell, what if ANYONE can read our minds? Better safe than insane, I'd like to say." Promise was beginning to get paranoid.

'Prom, if anyone could read our minds, our crushes would know we liked them by now!'

'Pshh. Pretty sure mine knows anyway with how obvious I am, so I don't count.'

'I don't know Promise, he seems pretty clueless to me!'

'.. Could you.. Could you ask him if he likes me at some point, maybe?.. And don't you dare tell him that I asked you to ask that!' Promise knew how sneaky Verity can be. Who knows what verity could do if Promise didn't fully outline things!

Verity nodded. 'no prob Prom!' Just at that moment Ron popped into the room. "Hey! There you guys are! Glad to see you two awake," He then caught sight of Wood, "Bloody hell! What happened?!" Promise gritted her teeth."I let another person take a blow for me, that's what happened." Promise hated herself for letting everyone get hurt because of her. 'If it's your fault, it's mine too!' Verity thought to her sister. 'Nah.' Promise didn't bother arguing with her sister at this point. Not because Verity was right, but because Promise didn't want to admit that she may not be the only reason all this was happening

"Oh man!" Ron said, "You think he'll be better for the match?" Verity froze. That was one thing no one had brought up yet. What if Oliver WASN'T ready to play by the sixteenth? "Depends. Anyone know how hard he was hit? From there I can make a pretty good guess." Promise knew this kind of stuff. She's seen people being knocked out, and usually she's a good judge when it comes to when they'll wake back up. "Well, bludgers usually go pretty fast!" George said "When one is just flying on it's own, it can still knock you out if it hits you in the head. But Jeb HIT it with a bat and AIMED it so..." Promise sighed. This was going to be tough to break to them. "I'm sorry, guys, but it's going to be a close one. I would have a back-up ready just in case he doesn't wake up in time. I'd say his window of waking up would be about a week to a month; it's hard to say. If he's truly been hit as hard as you say he was, there's no telling. It'd be the closest thing to a miracle to wake up before the game, but hey, this is Hogwarts." Suddenly, Oliver moaned in his sleep. Verity heard him swear. She rolled over to him. "Wood?" she whispered, "Oliver, can you hear me?"

"Or right now. Just as I said, it is Hogwarts after all!" Promise gave a chuckle as Oliver seemingly began to come to. Verity was starting to smile too, when she suddenly went pale, "Um, " she gulped, "Maybe MIRACLE isn't the right word!"

Promise's laughter faded as she waited for the after affects of getting hit that hard. She didn't wanna spook anybody with what could happen when he DOES wake up.

"Um, guys, is it me, or is Oliver's pillow starting to turn red!?"

"Oh. Yeah. It'll do that. You better hurry and add pressure to the wound with a sterile cloth; a bed sheet, perhaps, before he dies." Her voice sounded so nonchalant and careless, but her face and expression was dead as the grave serious and cold. There wasn't anything she could do from where she was at. Verity nodded and did as her sister said while the Weasley twins ran screaming for Pomphree.

"Verity you need to press harder to make the blood clot! If you don't do it right I'll get over there and do it myself.." Promise's voice was cold and harsh. Someone's life was on the line, and Promise could only instruct before she decided it was time to get up. She squeezed Harry's hand out of insecurity and worry, also just in case she needed support to get up. Verity nodded. she pressed harder on Oliver's head. At that moment Pomphree came running over. Verity backed up and let the professional handle things. Once Pomphree had stopped the bleeding, she turned and looked at the girls. "You know I might need you girls to help me out around here some day. You are amazing nurses and make an exceptionally good team!"

Promise did a one-shoulder shrug and grunted. She was just upset she didn't have the ability to do it herself. "Ow..." Whined a voice behind them. they all turned to see Hermione slowly opening her eyes behind them. Ron ran to her side. Worry and relief fought for a place on his face. Harry seemed torn as to whether to go to one friend's side, or stay at the side of another friend. He looked back and forth from Hermione to Promise.

Verity rolled over the Hermione's side. She reached out and gently moved some have of her friend's forehead. Hermione had protected her and Promise! She had refuse to tell them where they had gone, and had gotten the shit beaten out of her for it! That was why she was a Gryffindor; she may have been Ravenclaw worthy, but when it came down to it, Hermione had listened to her heart, not her head. Promise was fine letting him go to Hermione's side. She let go of his hand, signifying he can go. Promise couldn't be more thankful to Hermione, who had the bravery to say no to a large group of brutish boys that had the potential to do all kinds of wrong to her. Hermione moaned, "Everything hurts!" It was obvious that this was HER first real injury, and that pain like this had never spat in her face before.


	14. Chapter 14

~an- I only own half story credit, my editing skills and Promise. ~

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Promise wanted to roll her eyes, but she couldn't. She was in a mix of gratefulness, pity and 'oh get over it'. Pomphree went to tend to her and check her over. For someone like Promise, the way she can rattle off a list of injuries would have been nothing. For someone like Hermione, who most likely had never been in a fight in her life, it was understandable why she was in pain. Concussion, second degree sprained ankle, black eye, broken nose, and 2 bruised ribs. Verity winced as she said each injury. Poor Hermione! Then she thought of the list of injuries Promise had rattled off earlier. Poor Promise! The ratio of pain person to person was about the same for them both. It was just that Promise had a much, MUCH higher tolerance for pain.

Promise momentarily inwardly cringed at Hermione's list. She knew that she herself had much worse injuries, but she was used to it. All Promise could do at this point is pity/owe her.

Pomphree gave Hermione a potion to dull the pain. She again asked if Promise or Cedric needed any. Cedric shook his head, not wanting to look wimpy in front of his new found sisters.

"... Aw, what the hell I'll take one." Promise tried to pass it off as nonchalant as possible, but she was in a considerable amount of pain at the time. Promise glanced at some of the faces in the room for their reactions. Harry smiled and nodded. He understood, and he wouldn't say anything. Verity did the same, rolling to her sister's side. She gently squeezed Promise's hand. Cedric let out a small sigh of relief. He knew Promise was good at dealing with her pain, but he didn't like the idea of her being in pain at all. Ron seemed oblivious, as he was too wrapped up in telling Hermione all that had happened while she was asleep. The twins were also seemingly unaware, as they were deep in conversation about what would happen if Oliver couldn't play the first match. Promise gulped down the potion and after a few moments, asked in an uneven voice, 'Ms pumphree, ish there any.. Errrr.. SHIDE EFFECTS to thish potiun..?"

"No, sweetheart." Pomphree said, sweeping hair out of Promise's eyes, "Some people do feel a little tired after taking it, but that's it. If you feel too tired to stay awake, I'm sure none of your friends would mind if you dozed off for a bit." It was halfway through Pomphree's second sentence that Promise was already half asleep.

"Ya," Verity said, "get some rest, Promise. You're gonna need it if you're gonna be better in time for Harry's game!" Verity pulled the blanket up to Promise's chin and tucked her in. It felt good to be the one taking care of her for once. Promise, a few minutes shortly after, was looking down on herself- literally! 'Whoa. Well, this is totally weird and unexpected..' Promise was doing astral projection! Sweet.

Verity held her sister's hand. Promise looked so peaceful as she slept. It was a bitter sweet feeling however. She was hurt because of Verity... again! Though Promise always said that she didn't mind doing these sorts of things, Verity could never get over the guilt of how often they were in this position, or one similar: Verity had been teased, Promise defended her, Promise got hurt, and there was nothing Verity cold do to help her. Tears came to her eyes as the all too familiar feeling she hated so much came to her: helplessness. She wanted so badly to be able to make it all better, but she couldn't.

Promise, at this level of spirituality, could sense and, at this point, feel emotions and thoughts; it was like she was being an emotional sponge as she soaked up verity's emotional distress. Promise went to lay a hand on Verity's shoulder only to have it pass right through. Verity felt a chill go through her, like what you feel when you get touched by a ghost. She looked around, but saw no ghosts. Then a small light caught her eye. An aura, or energy cluster, floated there in midair. 'Promise?' she thought, 'Is that you?'

'.. Side affects, my ass. I'm astral projecting, how are you doing?' Promise hasn't projected since the accident, so she was trying to readjust to the odd feeling of floating. 'I'm fine. And it's probably not the potion making you project. It might be that we just unlocked our abilities to telepathically communicate' She smiled 'either that or you hit your head REALLY hard!'

'I'm rooting for the former. Hey do you spose I could talk to other people?' Promise floated over to Harry, who didn't seem to be sensing her at all.

'No, it's probably just me. I'm only able to see you because of our.. ablilties. Promise, you seem really calm about this. Have you ever... done this before?'

'Huh? Oh.. Um..' Promise stopped floating and stayed still. She did not want to tell a lie, so she changed the subject and playfully joked, 'Hey do ya spose I could maybe pull ghostly pranks? Or! Ooh! Take over some git's body?'

'I think you'd have to be an actual ghost to do those things! Promise.. is... is there something you're not telling me?' Promise stopped putting her arm through Ron's head and ceased her laughter at his chills. She floated over to Verity and inquired, '... I'll tell you something you don't know if you tell me something I don't,' Promise knew that Verity was hiding something about the accident as well. She wasn't stupid. Every once in a while she would slip up and let out a detail about a mysterious 'Him', and Promise can get mighty curious.

Verity bit her lip. After a minute she nodded. 'deal!'

'.. Before... The accident.. I actually used to astral project all the time,' Promise began, a little uneasy about this subject. 'But after.. IT happened, I've never projected since... Such a dark presence; it felt as though it haunted my very existence for years, now, however, it feels like a weight's been lifted..'

'So, you're saying the trauma of the expierence blocked out your ability?'

'I guess, it just feels so safe here; I guess that may be why it's only been till now that I'm doing it..?"

'Oh. So, did you project... during the attack? Or were you just outcold?'

'Yes.. Yes I-I think so! Because.. It would have just been impossible for me to feel that dark, dark sinister evil that I had felt, were I merely outcold.. It was like I was being swallowed whole; I couldn't see anything.. But that anger.. That hatred...!'

'Yea, I could sort of feel his..I mean IT'S hatred too. It was scary!' She hoped Promise wouldn't notice her slip of the tongue... or mind.. or whatever. Promise did, however. She noticed the first night they got to Hogwarts when she had the nightmare and explained what it was about! '... I think it's time you tell me who this Him is; or WAS for that matter.' Verity bit her lip again. She didn't even be know where to begin to explain. She had no clue how to start, but she had to try. Promise looked at her with eager eyes. The suspense had her hanging by a thin thread, and she was going to snap if she didnt get to know who this Him was.

Verity took a deep breath to calm her self. She decided to just up and say one of the most blunt parts of the story to get it out of the way. 'It wasn't a dementor that I was protecting you from that night' she started 'there was one, but after you passed out, daddy made it go away.' Promise half knew this part. She wasn't stupid; Verity's 'Him' was probably Promise's 'dark presence'! Promise was hoping that Verity has that one missing piece- who that menacing figure is. 'It was one of the deatheaters, though I guess that's kind of obvious...'

Promise was slightly angered and irritated. '.. You mean you DON'T KNOW WHO IT IS..?' The air around Promise seemed to become cold and slightly electric. 'He was wearing a mask!' Verity snapped slightly, "They ALL wore masks back then! It was kind of a deatheater trademark!' Promise stayed silent, seething in anger. Suddenly there was a strong whirl coming from nowhere as the approaching fall storm somehow blew the windows wide open; Promise was MAD! Verity's anger vanished. She tried not to show it, but at that moment she felt something she never thought she would towards Promise: Fear. Verity was in that instant terrified of her own sister's power.

Promise suddenly smiled at the one piece that she had aquired from her sister. There was a death eater at the scene. Promise wanted to know how many death eaters there are, WHO they were. She was going to find out who that son of a boggart was. 'I..I do remember thing..' Verity gulped, 'His voice. The way he spoke to me and how it sounded!' She shivered as the voice came into her head. The voice that haunted her nightmares. 'And..and his eyes! I..I saw them through the mask before he...did it!'

Promise was about to go search for clues when she stopped; she looked at her sister with her ghostly, questioning eyes. The wind stopped as she calmed down, baffling the boys that were just closing the windows.

'They were... blue? No! Grey! They were a steely, hard, stoneish, silvery grey!'

Promise's look softened before she disappeared to look for clues as to who this mystery man is. 'Promise! Where are you going?' Verity panicked.

'Going to find out who put you in that chair.' Promise was flying down the hall; flying toward the library.. The forbidden section.

Fred put his hand on Verity's shoulder. "Are you ok? You're making some pretty random faces,"

"Huh? Oh, ya I'm fine!" She tried to cover her tracks "Just thinking. Worried about them all, you know?" Fred looked skeptical. "If worry means making that pissed off face you made at breakfast a few days ago, then I think you might need a therapist. C'mon, something's buggerrin' ya.." Verity had to think of an explanation. Luckily, Promise had taught her a thing or two about how to lie convincingly when needed. "Just thinking about Jeb... and all the ways to make him pay for this shit!" Fred nodded sharply. "I'm right there with you.. What do you have in mind so far?" Promise began to tune back in to Verity, bemused with her sister's responses.

"Simple." Verity said. She actually had been thinking about it before. She watched Fred's eyes get big as she responded, "An eye for an eye; at the quiditch match, you and George send a bludger at him! If you can, Fred, and by that I mean if you're comfortable doing it, KNOCK HIM OFF HIS BROOM!" Fred got up and backed away from her. Not out of respect, but out of disbelief. "Verity..." Fred looked as though he'd been slapped. "That was practice, but doing that kind of nastiness at a match... Quiditch matches are sacred; even some Slythryns would agree,"

"Well, I disagree with the idea that the Slythryns wouldn't do that, because we both know they would, but I realize that you couldn't possibly do that. I'm sorry. I was just so.. so... so MAD!"

"Its not about me or the Slythryns!" Fred was practically yelling at her until he realizes what he's doing; he sees Verity's apologetic and hurt face and began to trail off in his words. "It.. It's just.. There's certain rules that shouldn't need to be said..." Fred wanted to stop, not wanting to see the tears stinging at the corner of her eye. "Oh shit...!" Cedric whispered, "Weasley, what did you just do?!"

Verity shakes her head, trying in vain to stop the flow of tears. Fred had just yelled at her! "Fred." Cedric hissed, extremely annoyed, "She's a FIRST YEAR! How the bloody hell do you expect her to know this shit?!"

"Verity.. I..." Fred sat back down. He tried to make her face him to the point of scooting his chair in front of hers. "Verity.. Verity, I-I'm sorry-" Before either of them could say another word, Verity snapped her breaks open and zoomed out of the hospital wing. She didn't know where she was going. She didn't care. She just had to get away. She heard Fred shouting behind her and Cedric cussing him out, telling him how jerky and moronic it was to yell at her over quiditch. 'Promise,' She thought, tears streaming down her face, 'I need you!'.


	15. Chapter 15

~an- I only own Promise, my editing and half the credit for the story~

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~ HA! You guys thought I was seriously gonna just do the ownership and not do an update, DIDN'T Ya?! Haaa no, but seriously. Like, Sirius Black serious I honestly DO have an update. Ya ready? Ok, here we goooo...

I am currently running out of stuff to post, so after these next few chapters I might take a while updating because I write with my partner over facebook and it takes a while to transfer that to my iPad and edit and blah... Although, by the time anyone gets to read this it'll already be done soooo... Forever alone ;_; but anywand, comment, criticize, enjoy! :3 ~

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At that moment, a shock spread through Promise's lithe, transparent form. At that moment she left the library, dropping the book she was reading; leaving Filch in confusion at the disappearance of the mystery reader and the book on the floor. She was yanked out of the library- but not to the place where she wanted to be. Her eyes snapped open, the familiar loud noise of arguing attacking her ears. She stared at the two babbling boys, sense coming to her mind finally after listening to the two boys. "WHAT. IN THE FLYING BROOMSTICK FUCK. DID YOU TWO DO. TO MY SISTER." Fred froze. Shit! Promise was awake! He was so screwed!

"I did nothing!' Cedric said "Fred yelled at her! OVER QUIDITCH! How stupid is that!?"

Promise began to prop herself up, dull yet piercing pain flooding over her body. Promise's eyes flitted between the two. Promise supported herself with her left arm as she sat up; pointing bleary, steely blue daggers at Fred. "I KNOW, OK!" Fred said, throwing his hands up in surrender, "It was stupid. I over reacted. I don't know what came over me. I just..." He shook his head "Oh man! I've gotta go find her!" Promise kept her glaring blue eyes on Fred; her lips pursed tight as she lifted a hand up to him, signaling him to pull her up. "We settle this after we find her." Promise knew the possible consequences of trying to stand with a broken spine, but she didn't care. Pomphree heard her. She shot Promise a look that scared even her.

"If you are going to leave this room." Pomphree said strictly, "You will use a chair like you sister's! I assume you know how?" Promise stared off in the distance.. And then got an idea. "Yes.. Yes I do." Promise was fighting with all of her willpower to hide the huge grin. Promise got into the chair, glaring at Fred all the while; not to mention as he pushed her down the hallway. Promise guided him down the hallway to the girls' bathroom. "I'll go talk to her.."

"How do you know she's in.." Fred started, before hearing the obvious sobs echoing off the walls, "Oh." He felt like pile off dragon dung. How could he have done that to her?! Promise gave him an annoyed look before rolling herself into the bathroom. The squeaking of her wheels stopped outside the handicapped bathroom stall. ".. Verity..?"

Verity was curled up in her chair in the corner of the stall. She shook as sobs racked her body. "I'm..so.. Stupid! How..could I not have known..the simplest rules..of quiditch! Fred hates me! I KNOW he hates me!"

"Verity, please come out of the stall.." Verity nodded and slowly rolled her way out the door. Her eyes were too filled with tears to notice that Promise was in a chair, and her mind too wrapped up in self hatred to wonder why she was out of the hospital wing. Promise picked that up. 'Now I know what you're gonna say; don't. I have a plan.' Verity looked up and gasped as she saw the chair. "I... you.. that's.. what the hell?!" She was shocked to see her sister in a chair. She prayed it was, as Ron had so bluntly put it on the train, 'temporary.' Promise thought to Verity, 'Fred is outside, I need you to rant to me all that happened very loudly.' Promise moved Verity closer to her as she began to make Verity look more like Promise and Promise more like Verity.

Verity nodded. She had no Idea what Promise was doing, but she'd go along with it. "I was just sitting there, dreaming up ways to kick Jeb's ass!" She started to yell, her voice still shaky. "Fred comes up and asks me what I'm thinking. So I tell him 'I'm thinking up ways to get back at Jeb.' He asks me how. So I tell him the first idea that comes to my head!" Promise tried to make her doting agreeing sounds as loud as possible as she switches their ties.

"I said, 'Fred, during the Quiditch match, I want you to send a bludger straight at Jeb and knock him off his broom!' Then, he starts snapping and yelling at me about how the game is sacred and you can't go screwing with that shit! How was I supposed to know the rules?!" Verity fought to keep her voice steady in vain as it wavered and cracked when she spoke, "The last time I rode a broom I was five on the back of daddy's old comet!"

"Aww Verity.. Do you want me to kick his ass later for you?" Promise tried to sound as menacing as possible as she gently pulled Verity into a hug, tying Verity's hair back into a ponytail after letting her own down.

"No." Verity said, trying not the breakdown again "It..it's my fault for..for being so ignorant!" Tears escaped her eyes and tumbled slowly down her cheeks.

Promise ended the hug, looking her in the eye. 'Verity.. Do you want this situation to be a little better?' Verity nodded, 'Yes, " She thought, 'but how does switching ourselves around make this better?'

'It's amazing.. How much more you can see from another person's eyes,' Promise did the final touch- wiping away Verity's tears and making she herself look as though she has been crying.

Verity didn't quite understand what she meant, but she descided to go along with Promise's plan. From memory, Promise mimicked the sad face that Verity just had. It sounds cliché, but acting classes really do make you a better liar. Promise rolled with Verity back outside the bathrooms. Fred was pacing the hallway and ran straight toward Promise, who was now posing as Verity.

'can you please tell me what I'm supposed to do..or not do?' Verity thought to her sister. '.. Think about how much you want to protect your sister and just look like your face is permanently serious.' Promise's crocodile tears were doing the trick as Fred stood stunned before her, shocked at his own stupidity with what he had done.

"Verity.. I.. I'm so sorry.."

"Save it!" Verity snapped. She was shocked how much like her sister she actually sounded!

Promise was really impressed with Verity's skills, but she struggled to stay in character. "Fred..! Fred I'm so sorry for what I said; I-I didn't know that it wasn't ok to.." Promise forced herself to cry. She needed Verity to see how much Fred cared for her. What Promise was intending to do was she stage a scene for her sister; making her watch as Fred was practically cringing with guilt. .. Except for Fred; for him, this was very real- very real indeed.

"See? You screwed up, Fred! It's gonna take a lot more than a lousy 'I'm sorry!' to make this right again! Now, tell her exactly WHY you are sorry!" Verity had caught on to the plan. 'This isn't getting anywhere- I'm gonna have to go to drastic measures..!' Promise took Fred's hand and shot him... The look. Fred himself almost started to damn near cry. '... NOW! Drag me back into the bathroom!'

Verity was inwardly shocked! She had learned her look! As soon as she heard her sister's command she obeyed. "Come on sis, let's go get you cleaned up... again!" Promise and Verity hurried into the bathroom; it was time for act two. Promise hurriedly fumbled with their ties as Verity did their hair. 'Did I do good? Tell me I did good!' Promise had a goofy grin on her face.

Verity laughed inwardly. 'When the the hell did you learn how to make MY magic face?' Promise gave her an offended look. 'I TAUGHT you that look; you just adopted it into your own because you have the pity factor with your wheelchair. So that look is technically mine,' Promise retorted proudly. Verity shrunk back slightly in embarressment. Shit! She was right!

Promise smiled and looked between the both of them, double checking that they looked like themselves before going back outside. Fred sat on a bench against the wall, head in his hands. Verity froze as he saw him shaking, sobs racking his body. 'No!" She thought shaking her head 'I.. I never wanted to hurt him. I mean, maybe I wanted to a little but..but not like this!' Promise knew what she was thinking. 'Dont you worry, he's not hurt- he's overcome with guilt. Do with him what you will, I'm gonna go back into the bathroom and piss, considering I haven't for the past two days and just chugged a pint of water..' She wheeled herself back into the bathroom, but took the stall by the door so she could listen to what was going on.

Verity rolled over to the weeping Weasley's side. She placed a gentle hand on his shoulder. "Freddy?" She said softly, "Are you ok?" Fred quickly swiped at his face with his cloak and looked up at Verity. He was nodding sharply before asking, ".. Where's Promise..?"

"Bathroom." Verity shrugged, "In her own words, she 'hasn't for the past two days and just chugged a pint of water.' If she doesn't pee soon, I have little doubt her bladder would explode!' Verity tried to lighten the mood. She smiled down at him, showing that she was ok and that he was forgiven for being an ass. Fred was trying not to face her as he tries to hide his now puffy, bloodshot eyes. He tried to give a chuckle but it came out as a sob. ".. Verity..."

"What's wrong?" She said, concerned. She pulled herself closure to him and tried to manuver his head onto her lap. "... I feel like dragon dung, is what... I yelled at a person who I really shouldn't have, for no reason... And there's nothing I can do to make up for it." Fred had twisted himself into a dark cocoon of unbearable self-pity. He lay down on the bench, curled up in Verity's lap.

Verity's guilt returned. She had meant to make him feel sorry, not suicidal! She and Promise may have had the right idea, but they had taken it way too far. They had underestimated how sensitive Fred could be. She had to make this right. She didn't want either of them upset. Meanwhile, in the bathroom, Promise was having an evil mastermind moment when everything was going as planned. Verity may not know it, but Promise knew it would turn out this way- perfect way to get revenge on Fred for treating her sister like shit and also to set Verity up with him. Promise had a brief moment of consideration if she had taken it too far; she shrugged it off quickly.

Fred bawled silently on the bench, his head in Verity's lap. Verity was worried. This was not the Fred Weasley she had met on the train. This was not the jokester hero who had upper cut Jeb in the face for her. This was a new Fred Weasley. This Fred Weasley was weak, depressed, and guilt stricken. Verity did not like this new Weasley. She wanted the old one back. She had to fix this. 'Shit!' Verity thought, frantic, 'Promise, as soon as you're done, get out here! Oh godrich! Prom, we crossed the line! Fred has gone from SORRY to border line SUICIDAL! Oh man! Promise help me! What... what do I say?'

'Ya kiss him, duh.'


	16. Chapter 16

~an-I only own Promise, my editing and half the credit of the story! Comment! Lemme know how I'm doing!... I'm jk. I' m just loneleeeee. D: but siriusly. I very much encourage positive criticism! Enjoy the story! :3 ~

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Verity was shocked at the idea. She was about to say so, when she heard Fred moaning, "I... I can't do anything right! I'm such a LOSER! I made a first year, a FRIEND, cry over a stupid game! I'm such a worhtless excuse for a..."

Verity had heard enough of that shit! "FRED WEASLEY! YOU LOOK AT ME RIGHT NOW!" Se snapped. He looked up at her, shock stinging his tear-ridden eyes. Fred stayed dead silent in lethal self-pity and guilt as he looked up at her as though she were some beautiful, delicate..

Verity stroked his hair. "You," She crooned, "Are NOT worthless or a loser! You have done many things right. You kicked that asshole's can on the train. From what I've heard, you're one of the best bloody beaters Gryffindor has ever had! And you're... you're..." She stared into his eyes. Ah screw it! Actions speak louder than words, and Fred was obviously not hearing her. At that moment in split second desicion, she pulled his face and her own together and kissed him dead center on the lips!

Promise, just outside the bathroom door, kept loudly whispering "YES!" as loudly as she can to herself, in spite of herself; she, contrary to popular belief, has never had her first kiss. If Promise could mentally hi-five her sister she could, it was out of envy if anything else.

Fred leaned into the kiss. He slowly slipped his hand behind her head, running his fingers through her thick brown hair. He had been shocked at first, that she had kissed him. But as the kiss went on, it dawned on him that..he liked it! He liked HER! Fred was falling in love with a first year he had met less than a week ago. It felt so wrong... yet so very RIGHT!

Promise tries to open the bathroom door when she realizes she's stuck; but she doesn't want to ruin Verity's perfect moment anyway so she just waits for a distraction from the two to occur. That distraction came before any of them were ready. At that moment, George came barreling down the hallway. Promise hears him coming down the hallway and realizes she's blocking the doorway; if he had tried to open the door he might have caused an accident! She backed up a few feet away from the door until she realized that her hair was still down! She then hurriedly hoped he wouldn't open the door right away as she tried to single-handedly put up her long, heavy hair.

George was yelling their names and seemed in some sort of distress. Fred and Verity quickly broke apart. Was something wrong? Had one of their wounded friends in the hospital wing taken a turn for the worse?

Meanwhile in the little girl's room, all Promise was worried about is that she can't seem to tie her hair back up! She didn't want anyone to see her like this, looking weak and vulnerable. She nearly broke down and cried at the thought, however petty it seemed. She struggled before turning to the full-body mirror to find the near-exact image of her twin staring right back at her.

Verity quickly rolled over to George. "George, What is it?" She said in a mild panic, "Did something happen?" She then realized that the distress she had sensed form George had not been fear, but anger. She relaxed slightly, but still wondered what he had chased them down for.

Promise whimpered, fumbling with her hair tie. She quieted, making an effort to listen to the oncoming news outside.

"Did something happen?! Bloody hell, YEAH something happened!" George screamed. Verity knew he wasn't yelling at her, but out of frustration. Still she couldn't help wincing a little at his voice.

Promise stopped a minute, freezing at the sound of George's tone. She dropped her now slightly tangled hair and listened to what was going on outside.

Fred saw Verity wince and shot his brother a death glare, "DUDE!" He snapped, "She just got over having ME yell at her, and you just yelled at her again! What the hell is your problem?!"

"Bloody Slytheryn's my problem! Guess who was just elected new Slytheryn quittich captain." It was like a repeat of what had just happened; same yelling at Verity about quittich, different situation. Fred's face turned redder than his hair. George backed up a few steps. He'd never seen his brother so angry! Fred's feelings suddenly burst out. "I DON'T GIVE A FLIPPING IMP'S ASS WHO THEY ELECTED CAPTAIN GEORGE!" he exploded "YOU DO NOT YELL AT VERITY! ALL SHE DID WAS ASK YOU A FREAKING QUESTION! IT'S NOT HER FAULT IF THE SNAKES PISSED YOU OFF! YOU DO NOT GET TO TAKE YOUR ANGER OUT ON HER!"

Promise sat frozen before the door in disbelief; this was escalating rapidly. She was about to move toward the door when she jerked forward, much to her spine's ultimate displeasure. She somehow put her breaks on and didn't know how to undo them!

George looked from his brother to Verity. Damn! Fred was right! What the hell was the matter with him?! He'd just seen Verity zoom sobbing out of the hospital wing after Fred yelled at her. Had he really just done the exact same thing? He shook his head and kneeled down in front of her. "Verity, I'm..." He started. "It's ok!" Verity interrupted, "I know it's not me you're mad at." She pulled him into a hug while shooting a dazzling smile up to Fred. He'd just snapped at his own brother for her. WOW! he must care about her alot! She looked back to George as they pulled apart. "Now, "She said in her best let's-get-down-to-business voice, "What did those jack-ass morons do now?"

"Well, as it turns out... The captain of the Slytheryn team was the one who.." George stopped for a minute. He cringed when he brung up the memory. "The.. The one who snapped Promise's spine..! The bastard got expelled, thank the gods... so then they had to make... they made JEB their new captain..!" Tears stung George's eyes at the vivid memory, at the sickening crunch of her spine and the blood-curdling scream she had released that night. Verity froze in horror. NO! Not him! ANYONE but him! Fred was angry. Not Verity. Verity was afraid! If he'd assaulted Oliver with a bludger during PRACTICE, she didn't even want to imagine what he'd have him and his TEAM do to her friends during an actual game!

Promise was in sync with her sister's emotions as she was struck with a deep terror. Goosebumps formed on her skin as she thought of what could possibly happen to her treasured friends... What could happen to Harry.

Verity then noticed George's tears. He was short of breath and his pupils seemed larger then normal. Verity understood. She recognized the symptoms of a PTSD panic attack, as she had them often. She quickly pulled him into her and held him as he shook. "It's ok George. It's going to be ok!" She crooned, slowly stroking him hair. George slowly calmed down. He looked at Verity. He was wondering how she knew to do that, but didn't want to ask. Fred put a hand on his brother's back. He had no freaking clue what had just happened!

George stood up suddenly, embarrassed at his moment of weakness. Had he just been comforted by a first year!? he quickly dried his eyes with the back of his hand, "Ya, um, well..." He stuttered, "We...we should probably head back! You know, in case Ollie wakes up he doesn't have the bombshell drop on him by Pomphree or Harry!" Fred nodded, "Ya, last thing we need is to add a heart attack to his concussion!"

They all laughed and traveled together slowly down the hallway. As they went, Verity suddenly froze. George heard her swear under her breath. He whipped around to face her. "What is it?" He said, "What's wrong?" Promise sat from the door of the restroom, feeling kinda left out as she heard them laughing down the hallway; occasionally glancing at the mirror and her loose hair. An embarrassed smile crossed Verity's face. "Well, um," She said awkwardly, "Promise is in the lavatory!" They all stared at her in confusion until they realized: Promise was in a wheelchair and was STUCK in there!

"Shit!" George swore, "Do... do you want me to go get her?" Fred looked at him in disbelief. "Really, George! If she really is stuck in the bathroom, what is she gonna do? Stand up and walk back to the infirmary?" Fred said sarcastically.

George sighed in exasperation. "I MEANT does she want ME to go get her, or does she, VERITY, want to get her herself?"

"Well go on, then! You'll bloody well be faster about it than Verity," Fred at that moment wanted nothing more than to be with Verity, however awkward it may be; not to mention he was slightly annoyed with George at that present moment. Without another word, George nodded and ran back down the hall. Promise was going to be SO PISSED!

Promise was more depressed than anyone thought she would be pissed. She felt so weak and vulnerable.. Part of her fear of hospitals. She cant even tie her hair up. She glanced in sadness at her reflection, and leaked out a sob as she stared at her waterfall of earth brown hair. It was just like she thought would happen! It was just a week in and her sister had already forgotten about her!

George suddenly banged on the bathroom door. "Promise? " He yelled, "Promise, its me, George! Verity told me to come get you. Are you stuck? Can I come in?" Promise jumped as sharp pricks of pain stung her back. "Uhm..." She turned her head to the mirror, uneasily replying, "Y-yeah.. come in.." She was really glad to know her sister hadn't forgotten about her but she didn't know how they would think about her.. looks... at the time.

George peeked in and was shocked. Sitting in her wheelchair with her hair down, Promise looked exactly like Verity. He saw the tears in her eyes and his heart broke. She looked so...so helpless! She turned to look at him as a tear fell; she wasn't sure how he was going to react as her voice cracked, ".. G-George...?" George walked over to her. He knew he'd probably get slapped for what he was about to do later, but in this moment he didn't care! He knelt down and wrapped her in a hug, careful not to do anything that would hurt her fragile back. Promise's eyes went wide at how gentle he was treating her. More and more tears fell as she sobbed, leaning against George to alleviate some of the pain her back was leaking. She wrapped her working arm around him; gripping his cloak in relief and helplessness as she cried.

George gently stroked her hair, deathfully afraid to touch anything below her neck. He didn't want to hurt her.

"... George..?" No one except for harry and verity knew this, but Promise was actually pretty sentimental. She peered into George's eyes as he so carefully strokes her loose, wavy hair.

"It's ok, Promise." He tried to comfort, "I'm here. I'll help you."

"Hey.. Umm.. Could you.. Put my hair up?..." Promise sniffed, she felt so pathetic. She didn't want anyone else to act like George just did.

"What? Oh sure!" He realized that with her broken arm, that would be difficult. He walked around behind her and gently gathered her hair into a pony tail as he had done for his little sister, along with, embarrassingly enough, a few of his older brother, many times before.

Promise guided George's hands with her small, surprisingly more petite one to the very top of the back of her head. George nodded and gently fastened her hair into place. "There you go." He smiled, "By the way, can you not tell Fred I know how to do that? I may never live it down!" Promise beamed up at him. "Won't tell a soul. I owe you one!" Promise winked at him with her now slightly glossed, puffy eyes. "It's fine!' George said, waving it off, "It's what any decent person would do."

"Umm.. George?"

"What? Is something wrong?" Promise gulped. "Could.. Could you not tell anyone... That you saw me like that?" George smiled, "Sure. You keep my secret about being a master of hair, I won't tell a soul that I saw you crying!"

"'Kay.." Promise looked back down to the ground. There was a moment of silence. Neither of them quite knew what was supposed to be said. Promise felt this deep ticklish feeling in her gut as George knelt down to try to undo the breaks. "Wow.." He said, tugging on the break handle, "These... things.. are really... STUCK!" She turned to look at the situation but whimpered as she was sent back into her chair in pain. "G... George..? I-I think there's... A tab on the rear of one of the large wheels..."

"Oh, sorry!" He curses his own stupidity. He crawls around to the back. George reaches underneath the chair. he pulls the tab and the breaks release. "There!" He says proudly. He starts to withdraw his hand. He suddenly gasps. He can be heard swearing blue fire under his breath. "George? George what's.. What's wrong..?" Promise questioned worriedly. She blushed furiously at how... CLOSE he was. "Mh, Nothing!" He lied through gritted teeth. He hoped she didn't see him wince. He tried to hide his hand inside his cloak. "George.. I know you're lying..." She said as he stood up. She knew he won't be able to take her seriously after seeing her like that, but she didn't want him to lie to her just because he did.

"It's... it's nothing! I'm fine!" He said not meeting her eye. Promise didn't want to resort to this, but she had to; she didn't want to hide anything from her. She started to make herself cry as she painted her most worried face. "... George..." She sniffled, "Why...? Why are you lying to me...?"

"I'm not lying!" He said frantically, " I just don't... I didn't want this to happen!" Promise was hurt, if not confused. She looked back down to the ground as her crocodile tears mixed with real ones. As she looked down, she saw a drop of red come from under George's cloak and hit the tile floor.


	17. Chapter 17

~an- I only own Promise, my editing and half the credit for the story.~

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"George..!? George you have to let me see that hand!" Promise was in a flush of worried panic as she tried to imagine how bad it must be. George backed up. "Like I said, It's nothing! I.. I caught a sharp piece of metal on the underside of the chair and cut myself. It's... it's not THAT bad!"

"YOU MIGHT GET TETNIS OR ANY OTHER DISEASE IF YOU DON'T LET ME TREAT THAT! George, please! Just.. Just let me see it... I want to help you."

George sighed. Might as well give her a panic attack from seeing it than give her a panic attack AND piss her off by hiding it. Her inner nurse activated when she saw his wound; it was a huge gash the was about half an inch deep, was from the tip of the index to just before the wrist and was bleeding rapidly. She grabbed his hand without saying a word and wheeled it to the sink, running it under hot, hot water, also dousing a napkin to make it damp with the hot water as it scalded their skin. George winced but co-operated with her.

Meanwhile, Fred and Verity had agreed that their kiss was a spur of the moment fluke thing and that they should just forget it. Neither of them would admit what it had actually meant to them. By now they were making their way towards the bathroom. They were worried now. What was taking so long?

After sufficiently sanitizing the gash with the water, she took his hand out and placed it on the counter. Before giving him a sympathetic, apologetic look before applying heavy pressure to the wound with the napkin, making him scream in pain as she gritted through her tears.

Fred heard the scream and ran. The only time he and George were ever hurt was when they were apart!

As soon as the blood seemed to clot, she ripped some cloth from the sleeve of her cloak and quickly wrapped it around his hand and press some more on the wound, shifting the bandages as it absorbs the blood. Suddenly George heard a pounding at the door. Fred and Verity frantically called their names. Promise was struggling to hold back panic as the pounding at the door distracted her from George's medical needs. She looked at him with blurred vision in panic, questioning what she should do. George was staying as strong and calm as he could for her. He turned to the door. "IT'S OPEN!" He yelled, signaling that they could come in. He shot Promise a look saying 'It's ok. Just try to act stronger than you feel'. He whispered, "I give you full permission to insult and scold me in front of them."

"Alright, but just so I don't feel guilty you can do the same to me." She whispered back as she wiped the tears from her vision. Just at that moment the door shot open by Fred, followed by Verity coming towards them.

Fred froze and turned pale as soon as he saw the blood. 'Shit!' George suddenly thought, 'I forgot that Fred has a weak stomach about seeing blood!'

'.. Well fuck,' Promise said to herself, 'if he faints, imma have another patient on my hands..' She firmly tied George's bandages and rolled over Fred, telling him to sit down and put his head up between his knees. Fred nodded and walked to the corner. George came up behind her. "That's nothing!" He laughed slightly, "You should have seen what happened last christmas when mum had a mishap while carving the ham! Percy said he made the Hogwarts ghosts look tan!"

"Really? Did he faint at all? I just want to know if he has a tendency to faint.." Promise wouldn't know how to drag Fred back to the infirmary if he did.

"Yes, but he only does that when there is A LOT of blood! This," George said calmly, holding up his hand, "is at the MOST worth him losing his lunch."

Promise laughed nervously. She knew George was only trying to lighten the situation but Promise wasn't sure what to do; especially if someone were to walk in on this. Verity interupted,"Would either of you care to explain how this happened?"

"Huh? O-oh uh.." Promise and George looked at each other when Promise said,

"Well my brakes just kind of locked up-"

"And I was trying to help her and there was this sharp little piece of metal-"

"And-and then there was blood dripping on the floor and I was helping him- "

"And then you guys walked in..." They said, finishing each other's sentences,

"And.. And yeah..." They stuttered at the same time. Verity's eyes bugged as she thought of all the horrible things that could happen from cutting yourself on a piece of metal. "I KNOW, I KNOW. But-but I fixed it, it's sterile, he's gonna be ok I SWEAR!"

Verity nodded. "I know you're good, but maybe we should still have Pomphree..." She was interupted by Fred running past her into a bathroom stall, emptying the contents of his stomach into the toilet.

George smirked. "I'm sorry, but you know I totally called that!" Promise stayed silent before breaking out into a fit of giggles until it escalated into full girlish laughter that rung through the bathroom. Fred, ever the jokester, tried to get in on the action. He stood up slightly and gazed into the bowl, "Hmm," He croaked, "I do not remember eating that!" Promise was laughing so hard that no noise was coming out and that water was forming in her eyes. George sighed, wiping tears of laughter from his eyes, "We.. really should get back. The others are going to start worrying. Plus, we're going to need to explain THIS," he held up his hand, then gestured to Fred with his other, "to Pomphree!"

Promise's laughter suddenly died down instantly as she started coughing a familiar... Red liquid! She stared at the blood coating her hands and looked up at the shocked three.


	18. Chapter 18

~an- Welp, just as I told you guys, its gonna take a while to update more chapters soooooo I guess I will see you guys later! I only own Promise, my editing and half the credit for the story. Enjoy :3 ~

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Promise flinches at the sight that was before her eyes. She couldn't believe how bad a condition Cedric had gotten in just from sitting up! Her mind turns blank as her face twists in an expression of severe shock and worry.

Ced was paler than a werewolf after a full moon. His once white, pristine sheets were stained a bright and violent shade of scarlet. He was unconscious, as Harry had said. He looked peaceful as he slept. He was so peaceful and still, the only way the girls knew he wasn't dead was by seeing the slow rise and fall of his chest as he breathed. They couldn't see his wound, as it was bandaged and he was covered with layers of blankets, but from the sheer amount of blood on the sheets, and how pale he was looked, they could surely tell it was severe. It was clear to Verity that the wound had not simply reopened, but had likely grown larger and torn deeper. She shuddered as she thought of the pain Cedric must have felt from this.

Promise begins to cry out of shock as she lets go of Harry's hand to cover the lower part of her face, muffling the sobs for her wounded brother. She looks to Verity in blank, yet, distressful, shock. "Oh, now don't cry dearie!" Pomphree comforted, "He'll be ok. I swear!"

"But..! But he's NOT..! H-He's not ok!" Promise began to hyperventilate her sobs as she stares at how the crimson blood contrasts his deathly white complexion. "Promise, calm down!" Harry whispered, "If it's the blood freaking you out, relax. He's not bleeding anymore. Pomphree just can't move him to change the sheets. If that's not it, then tell me, What's scaring you?" Promise stared at him a moment, calming down bit by bit as she tried to translate her feelings into words; it was indeed a tough task, however, because her feelings might as damn well be in greek. "I... I d-don't want to lose him... I-I j... just found FAMILY... He's... He's the b-big brother I've always w-wanted..!" She sniffed, hating her stutter as she spoke. She stared deep into his eyes, looking at one and then the other; just how she always did to everybody, whether it be a loved one or mortal enemy, she always looked someone in the eye.

"And you won't lose him!" George said smiling, "I may not have been close with him before, but I've seen how he plays quiditch. Diggory is tough. No matter what, he doesn't give up. Don't worry Prom, beleive me when I say this, because it's true: Cedric is to stubborn to die!" Promise looked down at her hands, one broken and the other empty. "I... Guess so..." Promise said, struggling to make sense out of the words she was hearing and saying; she was still in shock as she looked back up at everyone, cheeks dampened with tears.

Cedric's face changed from peaceful to one of deep discomfort. He moaned slightly. Verity rolled closer to him. He muttered something in his sleep. After a second, Verity burst out laughing. "What? W-what did he say?" Promise's laughter mixed with a sob as she tried to play back in her mind what he had murmured. Verity laughed. "It actually sounded like something YOU would say! He said, and I quote, 'Well, fuck! That hurt like a bitch!' Oh man, I know it's not that funny. I've just..never heard him cuss before!" Promise processed that for a minute and laughed so hard that her belly hurt. "Oh...! Oh man I wish we could've caught that on tape..!"

"PROMISE BE CAREFUL!" George hissed. He knew that the last time she laughed that hard, she ended up choking on blood. He was glad she was happy, but he was still worried about her. "Oh.. Oh I'm sorry.. I-I didn't mean to... worry you..." Promise looked at George and relaxed back into her bed, careful not to move her spine.

"It's... it's fine!" he said, trying to hide the fact that he'd been on the edge of a panic attack, "I just.. Don't want to see you get hurt again." Promise blinked, looking down. "Y'know, I... I think I wanna get some sleep; it's pretty late..."

"Ok, sweety, that's probably a good idea." Pomphree crooned. "Alright. Good night, guys.." Promise was kind of hurt by George. She knew it was out of worry and care but she didn't like being yelled at; no one did. George and Harry each took a side of the blanket and pulled it up over her. Pomphree came over and gently tuck Promise in. "Sleep tight, sweet heart." She whispered.

She beamed at her kindly before drifting off into a dreamless slumber.

It was dinner time, and Promise still had not awoken from her nap. Ron, the twins, Harry, Madame Pomphree, and many others tried to convince Verity to come down to dinner. She was so far stubbornly refusing. She locked her breaks and said she wouldn't leave till Promise, Cedric, or both of them woke up and she was sure they were ok. Cedric moaned in his sleep, shifting to get more comfortable. This just cemented Verity's stand point. Cedric was obviously NOT ok. She wanted to stay here with him in case he needed her. He blinked his eyes open and looked around, seeing only Promise in the bed next to him and Verity staring piercingly at him with worried eyes. She rolled over to him. She tried to smile. "Hey Ced! How you feelin'?"

".. Definitely could be better," He stared up at the ceiling, trying not to show how much pain he was in to her.

"You scared the crap out of me when we came back in," Verity smirked, "I had just finished calming down after what happened with Promise when..." Verity stopped dead. Shit! She shouldn't have said that. She REALLY shouldn't have said that! "When what? He shifted and looked up at Verity with concerned, curious eyes. "NOTHING!" Verity said panicked. Oh Lord! She was in really deep shit now! "Verity, if it really were nothing, would you be practically screaming it?" Verity's cheeks turned redder than a Phonix's butt. "I... I just don't want you to worry. Pomphree.. she fixed it! It's fine now!"

"Verity, if something was 'fixed' I want to know what problem happened in the first place. Please.. I just want to know what happened," Cedric said in a calm, serious tone. Verity sighed. "Fine! You want the long, detailed version, or the short, concise version?"

"Detailed." Cedric was dead serious!

Verity sighed. That was what she was afraid of. "After what Fred said, he and Promise went to comfort me. Eventually, we made up. " She started. She was not going detail about the little charade they had pulled. "Fred and I were...talking in the hallway, when George came running over. He told us about Jeb being captain. We decided to come back to the hospital wing. We were half way down the hall when we realize Prom was still in the Bathroom, and probably stuck in there. We sent George down to go get her. About twenty minutes later, they still weren't back, so Fred and I decided to go check on them. We were walking down the hall when we heard George screaming bloody murder! We ran to the bathroom and started banging on the door. We heard George yell that it was open, so we burst in. We found Promise wrapping up George's bloody hand."

Cedric's eyes went from concerned to questioning if she were serious as he nods, following along with her story. "Apparently, George sliced his hand open on a sharp piece of metal on Prom's chair while trying to unlock her breaks." He winced, imagining what kind of horrible things he could contract from a wound like that. "I KNOW!" George groaned in exasperation, "Everyone keeps telling me how bad that is. Seriously guys, can we just let it go!" His face has bright scarlet with embarrassment.

"Well, George, who knows what could have happened if Promise wasn't there who knows what could have happened. Verity giggled, "Ced, you do realize that if Promise wasn't there, it wouldn't have happen in the first place?! He cut himself on HER WHEELCHAIR!" Cedric stayed silent as he thought about that while Verity started the story back up again.

"Anyway, as soon as we saw that, Fred went pale. I mean like GHOSTLY pale! Apparently he has this thing with blood...ya, George made a bet that he'd puke." Cedric gave an amused look, "And did he win?"

"Sure enough, five minutes later, Fred was emptying his stomach into one of the toilets. George made some funny comment. we laughed. Fred said something funny we laughed harder. It was all fine, until..." Cedric was smiling all the way through, occasionally laughing until Verity came to a pause.


	19. Chapter 19

~an - I'm baaaack! With only one chapter though. Sadness. ;_; Chapter posting is definitely going to slow down, what with the writing that takes foreverrrr and editingggg, not so much posting, though. Posting takes a shorter amount of time. Anywon't, I only own Promise, my editing and half credit for writing the story! Criticize and enjoy! :3 ~

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Verity stopped smiling. She didn't quite know how to put the next part into words. She winced as the images of the scene flashed across her mind. Cedric glanced behind Verity at Promise, sleeping peacefully in her bed. He grew restless as the silence continued. Verity gulped and tried to continue. "...It was all fine.. until... until..." She shook her head and buried her head in her hands. She started to shake slightly as the memories came back. If he COULD move, he would comfort her. He looked to the Weasleys for help and was granted as Fred walked over and put a hand awkwardly on her shoulder. Fred continued for her. "We were all laughing REALLY hard when suddenly, Promise started coughing like mad! I heard Verity scream. When I turned around, I saw that Promise had been.. she was..." Fred himself couldn't finish that sentence. He pulled Verity closer to him and rubbed little circles on her back to try to calm her. Cedric had no idea what to do with himself. He felt so helpless; one of his precious new little sisters had gotten hurt-by what, he had yet to know-when he was taking a nap. What had happened to Promise?

"Blood." Verity gulped, "She was.. she was coughing up BLOOD! George... he grabbed her and ran with her back to the hospital wing. Fred and I followed with the chair." Cedric stared in horror at the story he was hearing. He couldn't believe all of what happened in the amount of time that he was out. "Is... Is she gonna be... Be ok?"

"Ya," Verity nodded, "like I said, Pomphree fixed it."

"... Did she say... What went wrong...?" Cedric chose his words carefully, not wanting to cause Verity more emotional stress and pain. Verity nodded and gulped again, "Ya. Pomphree said a... a sharp point on her spine... when she was laughing.. somehow... pierced her lung." Verity gulped and shook again. "She.. she was basically... DROWNING in.. in her own blood!"

Cedric stared in shock. He stared blankly at the blanket, trying to comprehend what he just heard. He looked over at Promise, thinking back earlier that day when she explained to him why she could handle so much pain, in her own special way. He could only imagine how excruciatingly torturous it must have been for her. Verity was crying now. Her body shook violently as she sobbed. Harry got up and went to her. He wrapped his arms around her waist. "Araelyn... Araelyn..." he whispered. It had worked during her nightmare. He hoped it might do something to help her now.

He still had to remember to ask Promise later what the hell it meant! She gradually started to calm down as Harry worked the trick Promise taught him. Verity was worked down to a point where her sobs became sniffles, and the tears to bleary eyes. She didn't ask if he knew what that meant, assuming he knew; even if she did, it was neither the time nor the place. The room stayed completely silent, no one knowing quite what to say. "Thanks, Harry." Verity whimpered. She was not as adverse to showing weakness as Promise was, but she still didn't like it. Fred stared at Harry in envy. How did he manage to calm Verity down so well? He was going to have to ask him later. The room was buzzing in silence as everyone thought about different things.

Cedric looked up at the clock, "WOAH! Wait, Shouldn't you guys be at dinner?" At that moment Promise popped her eyes open. "... Wuh... Someone say dinner..? My GOD I'm hungreh like a muthafuh..." Promise's speech was slurred and trailed off as she blinked her eyes open. "LANGUAGE, MISS LOVEGOOD!" Pomphree snapped. Verity laughed and rolled her eyes. Of course! Her sister wakes up for the word "dinner"! Promise squinted up at her. "Whaaaat? I didn't finish the word... Anywhat, someone mentioned food?... I like food." Promise stared at the group, not noticing Cedric was awake. Verity rolled to her. She smiled, wiping away her tears. "Hey sis! Welcome back to the world of the waking!"

"Why thank you, so very good to be here." Promise hummed. She slept, alright. She slept HARD! "Hey Promise," Harry said, "If you're awake enough, there's something I've been meaning to ask you about..."

"Anything. Unless it's about why I hate, hate HATE hospitals. And churches. Don't talk to me about that either... Anyhow, yeah, go ahead!"

"It's really nothing. " He said, "I'm just curious. Would you mind explaining... What does 'araelyn' mean?" Promise looked surprised. She was not expecting that! "Uuuuuhh... Hm. Okay. Awright. Yeah, c'mere a sec."

Harry inched closer to her.

"... Araelyn was our mother's middle name. Our father would call Verity that sometimes, because she looked so much like mom. Call it a nickname. It was also a bit of an inside joke because I didn't get called that, even though we're twins. But every once in a while when Verity would get a nightmare, she would run into mom and dad's room and he would plop her onto his lap and call her that... That's why it calms her down so much, because we began doing it at such a young age.." Promise looked to him eye-to-eye, almost looking right through him; reminiscent of their old childhood past. "... Listen.. I think it's best if you keep that bit to yourself, if you don't mind, I mean... Kind of private." Harry nodded. "Ok got it!" He said, "Now, on to more important things. She.." Harry gestured to Verity,"Is refusing to go down to supper till she knows you and Ced will be ok. Can you PLEASE help us convince her to leave?!"

"PFFT easy. Say that Nikola Tesla is downstairs, will TOTALLY go down."

"Who?" Harry asked, confused.

"Some super genius muggle scientist that supposedly could have revolutionized human understanding of electricity... Totally loves that guy."

"I do not!" Verity said, sounding annoyed, "Uncle Xeno does. I only have those posters in my room because he put them there and they're too high for me to reach to get them down."

"AND I won't help you only for the reason that I know you secretly like them so much!" Promise grinned like a cheshire cat as she stealthily undid her brakes with her foot. She pulled Harry back in, "Quick! While she's distracted!" Harry grinned and grabbed the back of Verity's chair. Before she could take in what was happening, he barreled out of the hospital wing at top speed. The twins laughed and ran after them. Prom was a genius! An evil, sneaky, spunky, god damn AWESOME genius! "Ahh, kids. Hey, do they bring lunch up to us, or serve infirmary lunches?" She asked pointedly at Cedric. Cedric got a huge grin on his face. "Oh, Promise! You are going to LOVE this!" Promise turned to him and gave him a look saying, 'What are you talking about and do I even want to know?'

Cedric continued, "Rumor has it that when Pomphree was hired at Hogwarts, she had two major skills that could be useful. They made her a healer because thats what they needed most. Her other skill..." Cedric's smile grew, "was COOKING!" Promise began to turn her head, eyes still on him before they flicked to Pomphree as she approached with a trolley, large silver platter on which had a huge pot cover on the top.

"Sure, it's not the rich junk food of the hall, but it's good!" Cedric laughed, "She also seems to have a gift for knowing what foods your body can handle without them... have a return appearance." Promise's eyebrows shot up. Now THAT takes talent. The top was lifted to reveal two meals: a well-done steak garnished with a garlic, the other meal some strange salad thing. Pomphree smiled at Cedric. "I think you can figure out which is which." Cedric nodded. He knew the salad was his. If he had been given a choice, he would have done the same thing. The last thing he wanted was for his gut to bust or for his food to, as he had so cleverly said it before, make a return appearance!

Promise propped herself to sit up to eat. Her tastebuds melted as she chewed her steak, small bites at a time; she was struggling to savor it and not down it in three bites as she usually would. Pomphree bent down and whispered in Cedric's ear. He groaned. It was not a groan of pain, but of severe frustration. Promise heard it in the process of taking a bite; she squirreled it away in her cheek as she proceeded to ask what was wrong. Cedric looked at her. He let out a snort, trying to stifle a laugh at how pathetically cute she looked. "It's nothing," He said, shaking his head, "It's just... well.." Promise finished chewing her steak and swallowed, paused for a minute, and took another bite as she waited for him to word his thoughts.

Cedric sighed, "She sent an owl to my parents." She gulped down her steak before muttering under her breath, "At least you HAVE parents.."

"What? OH NO! Promise, No! That's not what I meant!" Cedric panicked. That came out REALLY WRONG! She poked at her steak absent-mindedly before shoving a huge piece in, violently tearing her sharp teeth through the tough chewy substance. "What I MEANT," Cedric clarified , "Is that my dad can at times be a little..." Cedric searched for the right word.

"Abusive? Agitating?" Promise guessed for him.

"Over protective, overbearing, paranoid..."

"Well y'know then that it's only because he worries about you and LOVES YOU. Maybe if you weren't too busy taking him for granted you would notice that!" Promise blurted out. She pondered if she wasn't overreacting, but found no regret. She had no sympathy for people who complain about their parents.

"No, I mean yes, I mean... I don't take him for granted! I know he loves me and I am glad for that it's just..." He sighs, " I don't LIKE him worrying about me! I feel..I feel embarressed. Like.. like.." Cedric hung his head. 'Like I've FAILED him!' he thought to himself.

Promise kept silent. She always had an ability to read peoples minds; even though they came out as vague feelings of what they mean, not always in exact words. This was one of those times. She nibbled away at the steak in her mouth, swallowing piece by piece until it was completely gone. "Look... I understand. I get it. And I'm sorry I came out that way. I just... I guess I just feel sorry for myself and I took it out on you. That was uncalled for."

"It's ok." Cedric smiled. He then let out a laugh, "I'm just hoping he doesn't..." Cedric was interrupted by the sound of a hospital wing door bursting open with a slam. "Aaaaaaa, oh godric whats happening now?" Promise was in a tired mood; so much bullshit was happening today she couldn't keep track! She waited for someone to appear around the corner.


End file.
